Wisdom Archive

Have you noticed how trivial the Facebook posts from outside Louisiana seem right now? The local posts are so much more meaningful. People offering help of all kinds to each other, sharing their homes, launching rescue missions, adventuring to find and get things like baby formula to stranded grandchildren. Don’t you think the Cajun Navy guys are enjoying the excitement of being useful and heroic while getting to drive their boats all over? Yes of course the loss is tragic, and it’s going to be a big pain in the a– to clean it all up, our lives and our children’s lives are disrupted from their normal routine, everyone, even if your house is dry is feeling the ripple effect as it all unwinds, and yes, people will spend more money than they want to on all of this, However, what a … Read More »

I don’t know why the cops shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge.
I don’t know why the cops shot and killed Philando Castile in Minnesota.
I don’t know why the 11 cops were shot and 4 killed in Dallas.

But I do know one thing: The meaning that I assign in my mind to these events is a choice. Of course my choice, like everyone else’s, will be influenced through the filter of my life experience and perspective of the world. I also know that whatever meaning I assign to these events will not necessarily mean that I am right nor if they are true. I wasn’t there.

I’m not happy about what happened. What can I do about it? Of course I’m worried about the ripple effect. I don’t want this to spark further violence. I don’t want more people hurt. I want everyone to get along, … Read More »

Happiness is being on the “right” side of the interstate as you zoom past the 5 mile traffic jam on the opposite side. Do you gloat? “Ha Ha, glad I’m not one of those idiots over there going the wrong way!” Or do you have empathy? “Those poor people, I feel so sorry for them, I feel their pain. I wonder if they’ll think it’s worth it when they find out it’s only a Hooter’s girl changing a tire?”
I’m an I-12 guy. Seems like everywhere I ever need to go begins on Interstate 12, vacation to the beach, visiting my family in Atlanta, weekend concert at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. When my car feels the thump of the closing door, it just drives me I-12 East on autopilot, I don’t even have to steer.

What are the 3 most dangerous words to an entrepreneur? Find out on today’s Quick-Wisdom Talk at 12 noon (CST) with Guest Host and Expert Podcast Producer Catherine O’Brien. Join the call at 225-412-3544.

TENDENCIES
Which side do you tend to fall on, the left hand side or the right?

Seeking Comfort —or— Pushing out of your comfort zone
Avoiding Fear —or— Willing to confront the Fear
Avoiding Failure —or— Learning from Failure
Care What Other’s Think —or— Know That They Aren’t Thinking About You At All
Easily Offended —or— Nothing is Personal
Give in at the first sign of Resistance —or— Push through Resistance
Procrastination —or— Action
Think of Yourself First —or— Think of Other’s First
See yourself as a Victim —or— Accept total Self-Responsibility
Relive Past Events —or— Being Present
Anxious about the Future —or— No Worries with Focus on the Present Moment
Fixed Mindset —or— Growth Mindset
Pursuing Shadow Career —or— Engaging in Your Calling
Wrestle with Negative Thoughts —or— Letting Go of Unhelpful Thoughts

How to bulletproof your mind to negativity, on today’s Quick-Wisdom call at 12 noon (CDT) 225-412-3544
“You must become the master of your own thinking. This is the only way you will realize freedom and joy. Therefore, you will have to turn your thoughts away from lack, want and limitation, and let them dwell on good. Make yourself do this. Learn to think about what you wish to become.” Ernest Holmes from “The Art of Life”

“What would you choose to do with your life if you knew failure were impossible?” If you really knew 100% for sure that whatever you decided to go for would come to be, how big would your dream be?

“What would you want to be the best in the world at?” Does your answer have anything to do with what you are currently spending your time doing?

Your answers will reveal your ultimate dream, and this dream also happens to contain within it the perfect prescription for the medicine you need. What medicine you ask? The antidote to what ails you. The antidote to fear and doubt. If you had no fear or doubt then you’d already be ploughing full bore on the quest of your dream. You’d already be working on becoming the best in the world at something. You wouldn’t be thinking of reasons that either … Read More »

“Fear is the cause of every problem. It’s the root of all prejudices and the negative emotions of anger, jealousy, and possessiveness. If you had no fear, you could be perfectly happy living in this world. You’d be willing to face everything and everyone, and nothing would bother you.” – from “The Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer

“On its way to landing astronauts safely on the surface of the moon, the miracle of modern engineering that was an Apollo rocket was actually on course only 2 to 3 percent of the time. Which means that for at least 97 percent of the time it took to get from the Earth to the moon it was off course. In a journey of nearly a quarter of a million miles, the vehicle was actually on track for only 7,500 miles. Or to put it another way, for every half-hour the ship was in flight, it was on course for less than one minute. And it reached the moon—safely—and returned to tell the tale.

How was such a thing possible? Because modern space travel is a masterful example of slight edge course-correction in action.

We all say that we want to succeed, but sooner or later our level of activity must equal our level of intent. Talking about achievement is one thing; making it happen is something altogether different.
Some people seem to take more joy in talking about success than they do in achieving it. It is as though their ritualistic chant about someday lulls them into a false sense of security, and all the things that they should be doing and could be doing on any given day never seem to get done.

The consequences of this self-delusion have their own inevitable price. Sooner or later the day will arrive when they will look back with regret at all those things they could have done, and meant to do, but left undone. That is why we must push ourselves in the present to experience … Read More »

“Just do a days work each day, pour your heart into it, give excellent service, focus on what’s good, think about what you appreciate, let even the smallest negative thought pass without giving it your attention, it will be replaced in a moment as another will bubble up. When things happen that you can’t ignore, remember you always have the choice of assigning the meaning to it, we don’t experience life directly but through our own distorted lens of past experience.” – Albert
Albert’s Quick-Wisdom.com for busy people. But not too busy to enjoy life!

Confidence comes from the ability to communicate effectively. I’m giving a speakers workshop tonight at 6:30 PM at the holiday inn express on Siegen Lane for the real estate investors network group. The public is invited for a five dollar donation at the door. Come join us, it’s going to be fun.

The Good Life to the Great Life is not a progression, it takes a shift. You know you’ve hit your ceiling when what you’ve always done is no longer giving you the results you expect. Shifting to find the better path up on Today’s Quick-Wisdom.com call at 12 noon (CDT) Go to AskAlbert.net for the secret dial-in number.

“Confidence is the cornerstone of success in all domains of life, and developing it is much like nurturing a garden. It takes attention, gentle care, and vigilance. Poor self-confidence is like a garden that has been overgrown with weeds. The gardener must search through all the foliage to find and nurture the flowers. Self-confidence can be nurtured by many gardeners, including coaches, family, and mentors. But it is most important that you understand how to nurture and develop your own self-confidence.
When you grow confident, you are essentially learning specific concrete knowledge that bonds your intention with your ability, thus forming trust. It is this trust or confidence that forms a crucial bridge to being Zone-like—in your attitude, your approach, and your ability to realize your goals and turn your desire into will.”

“Your mind can be likened to a house that has been cluttered over the years with thousands of unnecessary pieces of furniture, pictures, ornaments, and other things, all strewn around and piled everywhere. The result is that, although the outside of the house may present a good appearance, the inside is a mess of confusion and disorder. It is impossible to accomplish anything under such conditions, for you cannot go after one thing without stumbling over another. There is no order. No purpose. No progress. The first necessary thing to do, then, is to rid that house of all but the furnishings that are essential to your success.” – John McDonald from “Messsge of a Master”

Start by assessing all of the things you’re involved in but not committed to. Commitment is either 100% or it is None, and 99% is the … Read More »

What is that you ask? It’s Fear of Failure on the bottom with a slice of Fear of Success on top while you are stuck in the middle. Where can you go, and what could you possibly achieve while trapped in a pickle like this? Gain insight and strategy on how to extricate yourself from this scenario that may be more common than you’d expect…On today’s Quick-Wisdom 15 minute Call for Entrepreneurial Minded People at 12 Noon (CDT). Go to AskAlbert.net to get the dial-in number if this is your first call.

“If this is your personality then your personality creates your personal reality. It’s that simple. And your personality is made up of how you think, how you act, and how you feel. So the present personality who is reading this page has created the present reality called your life; and that also means that if you want to create a new personal reality—a new life—then you have to begin to examine or think about the thoughts you’ve been thinking and change them. You must become conscious of the unconscious behaviors you’ve been choosing to demonstrate that have led to the same experiences, and then you must make new choices, take new actions, and create new experiences.” —Dr. Joe Dispenza from You Are the Placebo

Who would’ve suspected that you could find relief (and subsequent success) with a willingness to fail? It would have never occurred to me. I avoid failure like the plague. It’s bad for the reputation and my carefully crafted mystique, lore, and image as a self-made man. If you give a damn about the way others see you, your precious ego, the way you see yourself, or your mission to climb the heights of success, then surely avoiding the crevasse of failure is the way to go, right?

If you can hear a ring of truth in that avoidance approach to failure, then surely you’re hanging out in my basecamp of “fixed mindset” climbers. (See fixed vs. growth mindset post)

I always thought the surest way to the top was one step forward while avoiding the two step backslide under any circumstance. Now I’m reconsidering. That approach may just lead … Read More »

“In short, “getting it together” requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting. The mind is still when it is totally here and now in perfect oneness with the action and the actor. It is the purpose of the Inner Game to increase the frequency and duration of these moments, quieting the mind by degrees and realizing thereby a continual expansion of our ability to learn and perform.”
—W. Timothy Gallwey from The Inner Game of Tennis

Creative visualization—in which we merely imagine our ideal outcome—is NOT EFFECTIVE. Period.
We need to add another component. We need to mentally contrast our ideal scene with our current reality. We need to get real about the gap between them and be willing to look at the inevitable obstacles we will face in pursuit of making that ideal a reality.
We do THAT and magic happens.

It’s like some motivational switch is flipped and we get to work. Scientists describe this as creating a “necessity to act.” <— We want that!

Do you define success as a process of learning or by proving you’re smart? Do you feel that you have to prove to yourself and the world that you are a success? Or could you care less what the world thinks and see life simply as a continuous challenge and learning opportunity? Your answers to these questions and the quiz below can give you great insights into your approach to success and the likelihood of feeling that you’ve attained it.
Which of the following sentences do you agree with the most. Choose 4 of them.

1) Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.
2) You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.
3) No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
4) You can always substantially change … Read More »

Oh, she has it too? Yes, Poor little Whitney got it too. It’s such a shame, she’s so young, she had such potential. If she could have only escaped this genetic abnormality that runs like a plague through the entire family lineage. Another tragic loss to the “Pellissier Lazy Gene”, ambivalent to the squandered potential it leaves in its wake.

Yes the “Lazy Gene” has been haunting my family and a popular topic of discussion for decades. Who’s been waylaid by it? Where did it start? Who’s fault is it? Throwing our hands up as if once you realize you have it, what chance is there of ever making something of yourself? You can’t overcome your own genetics can you?

Although my Mom should have probably kept some of this to herself, after kicking my Dad out because of his “Bunny” addiction, she often referred to him as “Ya … Read More »

“I now promote you to Captain of Patrol Boys”! Wow, what a great ending to 4th grade. When I come back next year, I get to be the Captain, signified by the royal blue paint in between the letters of the AAA logo stamped onto the ordinary tin badge worn by my fellow officers. The perfect fold of that bright orange belt creates it’s own strap that ends in a tight bundle hanging down from my hip proudly displaying that badge right in the center. Imbued with a sense of importance, my duty includes marching into the office each morning, grabbing the triangle-folded American flag, and marching right back out of the gate to the front lawn and raising the flag, while the other kids went to homeroom. I always felt a Walter Mitty sense of responsibility to protect the entire school, the kids, teachers, and … Read More »

So, counterintuitively an easy life in the long term comes from the sacrifice of completing more difficult tasks here and now. But the paradigm-shifting insight and breakthrough that successful people have made that many others have not is that often these more difficult activities are only necessary for a short amount of time. — Rory Vaden from Take the Stairs
Quick-Wisdom.com – pay now, play later just like Albert does!

The easy way to harness the supercomputing power of your own brain using your RAS (Be careful saying that out loud) the Reticular Activating System. This a Quick-Wisdom conference call at 12 noon (CDT) is going to be good. Get Dial-In number by registering at AskAlbert.net.

In ancient Egypt somewhere around the 1380’s BC, the parents of a little Egyptian prince noticed his early signs of creativity. On his fourth birthday they gave him a chunk of marble, a small hammer, and a sculpting chisel. The young prince, left to his own devices, started using the chisel to etch writings on his bedroom wall instead of applying himself to creating the masterpiece his royal parents were expecting. Over the years his favorite activity was to permanently etch the things he overheard and were said to him directly, recording the various pronouncements and judgements of his well meaning caretakers.

“You are spoiled rotten”
“This kid is never going to amount to anything”
“Not everybody is good in math”
“You are a lazy bum”
“You are not worthy of your position”
“Don’t be a quitter”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees”
“Who do you think you are? You’ll never be able to do … Read More »

“One decision that an existentially aware person makes is to focus on making meaning rather than on monitoring moods. If you pester yourself with the question, “How am I feeling?” you create unhappiness. If the question you pose yourself instead is, “Where should I invest meaning next?” you live more authentically.”
— Eric Maisel from Rethinking Depression

Quick-Wisdom.com because you don’t have much time, but you still wanna be smart!

“Calling up the stress response to deal with dangers that are not happening now is similar to pulling a fire alarm for a fire that happened twenty years ago or to fearing a fire that may happen next year. It would be unfair to the fire department and a misuse of its time and energy to ask firefighters to respond to such an alarm, just as it’s unfair to demand that your body continually respond to threats of danger from events that cannot be tackled now. As I say in my seminars, anxiety is energy that cannot be used now. When you focus that trapped energy on action in the present moment, you release it and experience excitement and effectiveness.”
— Neil Fiore from Awaken Your Strongest Self

Do you want people to really want to listen when you talk, give you full attention, truly consider buying what you’re selling, take real action on your recommendations? Then you must learn to lead with WIIFM. The language of “What’s In It For Me”…this is the topic of today’s Quick-Wisdom call at 12 noon (CDT) register at AskAlbert.net to get the dial-in number.

I suspended my disbelief and plunked my money down on the table and agreed to do at least 6 sessions with my hypnotist and energy worker, Linda Allred. I knew I was hitting a wall of some sort and had to find a way over it, under it, around it, or through it. I can’t blame it on laziness anymore. For the last two years since reading “The War of Art” I’ve been meditating, facing my resistance, doing what I fear, making tremendous progress, but feeling like I was limited by some sort of barrier.
As you gin up the courage and venture out of your comfort zone you start to feel great at first as you accomplish things. There’s a satisfaction from the momentum of overcoming the stubborn part of yourself that’s been keeping you down. But the more you venture out, and stretch, new limits appear … Read More »

“Live the life that’s right in front of you. Even though you’re striving to make things better, which is great, living inside the fantasies of your future rob you of the precious opportunity to experience the miracle of the moment.” – Albert’s insight from his meditation this morning

How to overcome procrastination at 12 noon (CDT) on the quick wisdom conference call. Go to AskAlbert.net to receive your dial-in info. I was going to do this tomorrow, but what kind of example would that set?

Ours is a society of denial that conditions us to protect ourselves from any direct difficulty and discomfort. We expend enormous energy denying our insecurity, fighting pain, death, and lost, and hiding from the basic truth of the natural world and of our own nature. – Jack Kornfield

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – FDR
You only make what you think you deserve. You can increase this by investing in yourself – the topic of tomorrow’s quick wisdom call at 12 noon (CDT) go to AskAlbert.net to sign up for call and get dial in number.

12 Belief Categories
Have you ever done a coaching session where they used a “Wheel of Life”? It’s a self-assessment of sorts where you look at different aspects of your life and answer the question: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, How well do I feel I’m doing in this area of my life?
Here is a link to a 12-spoked version that I’m using in the Energy Work experiment mentioned in last weeks post. My own answers were surprising and I’m sure yours will be illuminating as well. Download it and try it for yourself. Make a mark (black dot) on each of the 12 axises that corresponds with your own idea of where you stand on each issue (look on the second sheet of the download for a verbal description of each area if you’re not … Read More »

Wouldn’t it be nice if your efforts resulted in a runaway hit? Everything falling into place with ease? What keeps that from happening? “Overcoming limiting beliefs and breaking those glass chains” is the topic of today’s Quick Wisdom call at 12 noon (CDT). Get dialing info at AskAlbert.net

A friend of mine told me, “Aging is the slow and gradual decrease of options”. This should be a real motivator to get on with it while you’re still able. Get on with what?, you ask. LIVING! Really “LIVING” as opposed to surviving and just getting by. We’ve inherited a cautious approach to life from our wise but nervous ancestors tasked with navigating the dangers of history. We’re thankful, and grateful for our existence, of course, but we’ve been left with the legacy of a fearful nature. The threat of the saber-toothed tiger has been replaced by the fear of “Am I good enough?”. Good enough to dare to live your heart’s desire? Good enough to even admit to yourself what that desire is? Good enough to persevere while critics and naysayers judge and comment (including the worst one, your inner critic)? Yes, the fear is just as scary and palpable as if the tiger were … Read More »

“The Art of Marshaling your resources” is the topic of the Quick Wisdom Conference call Tuesday at 12 noon (CDT). This is the secret weapon skill that every entrepreneur needs to optimize the chances of success. Get call in info by signing up and registering here: AskAlbert.net

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” -Zen proverb
The one best habit you could ever cultivate will be the topic of tomorrow’s quick-wisdom call at 12 noon (CDT) register at AskAlbert.net

When ever you hear someone tell their success story (especially in our culture), the success part of it always seems to be directly related to their extraordinary talents, skills, heroic efforts, or just plain specialness. The storyteller plays up their personal role in all of this, takes full credit, and conveniently leaves out the instances of luck that played a part along the way.

In “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell traces back stories of super successful icons to reveal the untold lucky coincidences that are never part of the “hero story” that gets told. A big part of success is the result of being in the right place at the right time. He doesn’t negate the personalities, skills, and efforts of the successful, but illustrates that timing and coincidence can give one a huge boost. He points out that Bill Gates attended an exclusive school in Seattle that … Read More »

“If you can find someone who can stay on mission, on task, with focused intensity for an entire decade, I will show you someone who is world-class in their chosen area of endeavor. They are likely a national brand, or will be. In his great book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes that one of the keys to unusual heights of success is spending ten thousand hours of practice at your chosen craft. The Beatles spent countless hours playing at summer festivals before you ever heard of them; Peyton Manning, widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play football, has been known for his work ethic since he was a child. I just won my first Marconi Award, which is essentially the Academy Award for radio, and afterward counted up that I have been on the air over ten … Read More »

“All of us have the capacity to make use of any circumstance, no matter how awful, to create value. This ability to “change poison into medicine,” as it is known in Nichiren Buddhism, makes plausible the transformation of even the most horrific tragedy into something that enables us to become happier. . . .
Believing in your ability to transform poison into medicine when you don’t know how, and often won’t except in retrospect, is difficult, I admit. But that’s the confidence you have to find. That’s the confidence that represents your greatest defense against discouragement.”

~ Alex Lickerman, MD from The Undefeated Mind
There’s more goodness at quick-wisdom.com

“Your Daddy’s a Bum!” was the refrain frequently heard from my bitter divorced Mother. She probably should have held her tongue in front of an impressionable six year old, but it’s been over 45 years now and she still can’t resist a swipe at my Dad. Subconsciously what I absorbed was that when I grow up I didn’t want to be like my Dad, I didn’t want to be a bum. I’m sure that was good motivation. (In retrospect and his defense, I don’t think he’s a bum. He’s got his quirks and issues but I still like and love him. He’s a good natured, fun-time guy, doesn’t complain, just talks a lot.)

“Money doesn’t grow on trees”, “I wouldn’t want that mansion because I’d to have to clean all of those bathrooms”, “I wouldn’t want to pay that electricity bill”, “the rich people at … Read More »

“Commitment is very important in life. Those who want to lead a spiritual life are here to change all these things and to rebuild a better world. Remember that. You have a great task, and it’s not impossible. If you really put your heart and soul into that, you can do it. Begin with your own life. Let nothing shake you. You have to be really bold and strong to achieve anything in life. Be that bold. When you know that something is right, don’t hesitate to follow it. Certainly there may be obstacles, tests; but don’t give up. Even if you should fall down or make a mistake, get up and say, “No! The next time I’ll be strong.” Keep on going, like great mountain climbers, until you reach the top. If you really want to do it, you … Read More »

“Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness” from the movie (on Netflix) “Hector and the search for happiness”
“Highlighting what’s different about you is the hot new marketing strategy in business today” is the topic of tomorrow’s quick-wisdom conference call at 12 noon (CDT). Get dial-in info by signing up at AskAlbert.com

I knew a guy who knew a guy that made his living as a professional gambler. He said that the secret of his success was being able to walk into a casino with a substantial stake and walk out when only 10% ahead. The average person he went on to say, “comes in with a $100 and expects to walk out with a $1,000”, whereas, “I bring in a $1,000 and walk out with a $100.”

His strategy reminded me of the two typical approaches people take toward achieving their goals and ambitions. The most popular approach is to dream about the “Home Run”, “Grandslam”, or “Jackpot” that’s going to change your life and instantly give you the gratification you’re seeking.

If you’re in this camp, you’re always trying to come up with that one idea, that one change you can make, that one switch you can flip … Read More »

For the better part of my life I chased money. I chased it hoping that being rich would make me happy. How could it not? If you’re rich you can buy anything you want and certainly that should make one happy. A few years ago I read a book, “It’s not about the money” by Brent Kessel and it caused me to confront the reality that what I really had been chasing was security not wealth. There was such a clarity in the moment that I could see all the way back through my life that this is what I had been after. I wanted to feel that “I had it made”. Furthermore I wanted to not only feel that I have it made but also that nothing would be able to ever take it away.

Resistance! This is your only enemy. It’s what keeps you from doing what you know you want to do. Let’s talk about it today about how to conquer it at 12 noon (CDT) on the Quick-Wisdom conference call. Register at AskAlbert.net to be on the call.

“Long story short: a few years ago a group of American and Norwegian researchers did a study to see what made babies improve at walking. They discovered that the key factor wasn’t height or weight or age or brain development or any other innate trait but rather (surprise!) the amount of time they spent firing their circuits, trying to walk.

However well this finding might support our thesis, its real use is to paint a vivid picture of what deep practice feels like. It’s the feeling, in short, of being a staggering baby, of intensely, clumsily lurching toward a goal and toppling over. It’s a wobbly, discomfiting sensation that any sensible person would instinctively seek to avoid. Yet the longer the babies remained in that state—the more willing they were to endure it, and to permit themselves to fail—the more myelin … Read More »

Michelangelo was a promising but little-known artist until he produced the Pietà at age twenty-four. People called the Pietà pure genius, but its creator begged to differ. “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery,” Michelangelo said, “it would not seem so wonderful at all.”

Genius resides within all of us, but are we up to the task of digging it out?

“How to use all 3 of your brains in synchronicity to bring more wholeness to your life and work.” Is the topic of tomorrow’s Quick Wisdom call, Tuesday at noon (CDT). Register to be on the call here: AskAlbert.net

A few years ago while visiting Las Vegas, my family took a tour of the Zappos headquarters, the online shoe retailer known for it’s crazy and unorthodox management style. The kids groaned, “Daddy, why do you have to drag us to see a shoe factory?” “Because this is no ordinary place and I want you to see how differently they do things”, I replied.

Zappos picked us up in a free shuttle from our hotel. They greeted us in the lobby with popcorn. Everyone was dressed crazy casual, some in pajamas, shorts, slippers, jeans, bunny ears, etc. The kids eyes lit up, “I want to work here”. Yes it did look fun. Entering the main call center floor was even crazier, everyone’s desk and aisle was decorated. One aisle in particular, employees had stapled plastic ivy to the ceiling tiles and it draped down … Read More »

“The serious thing for each person to recognize vividly and poignantly, each for himself, is that every falling away from virtue, every crime against one’s own nature, every evil act, every one without exception records itself in our unconscious and makes us despise ourselves. Karen Horney had a good word to describe this unconscious perceiving and remembering; she said it “registers.” If we do something we are ashamed of, it “registers” to our discredit, and if we do something honest or fine or good, it “registers” to our credit. The net results ultimately are either one or the other—either we respect and accept ourselves or we despise ourselves and feel contemptible, worthless, and unlovable.”

“We have all been hypnotized into thinking that we are smaller than we are. Just as an undersized flowerpot keeps a mighty tree root-bound or a little fishbowl keeps goldfish tiny, we have adapted, adjusted, and accommodated to a Lilliputian life. But place the same tree in an open field or the fish in a lake, and they will grow to hundreds of times their size. Unlike the tree or goldfish, you are not dependent on someone else to move you. You have the power to move yourself. You can step into a broader domain and grow to your full potential.”
~ Alan Cohen from Why Your Life Sucks

When I was 16 years old I wanted to be a rock star. Doesn’t every boy? What was the reason? Groupies! It was still a few years before Dire Straits would articulate it perfectly, “money for nothing and your chicks for free.” I convinced my Mom to buy the $99 electric guitar from K-mart and couldn’t wait to get it home and make my rock star dreams come true. That first strum sounded awful. So did the next and the next. I thought magic was just going to flow out of that thing. There were no lessons on YouTube yet, the home computer hadn’t even been invented. My guitar soon became just another prop sitting next to my waterbed in my groovy, poster-filled teenage wonderland of a bedroom. Yes, it was the 70’s.

“Your biggest regrets in life will not be the things that you tried and failed at, but the things you never tried at all.”- Andrew Rinehart

Ps it’s not too late to text back to (225) 936-2293 in 50 words or less what the overall theme of these texts seem to saying to you. If you do it, I’ll send a secret link to everyone else’s answers. It’s quite entertaining. Albert

My Grandpa Pat was a stubborn old man. He looked like Sgt. Carter from the Gomer Pyle TV show, complete with a crew cut and gruff demeanor. He never worked but somehow garnered a generous government pension due to military service and POW status during WWII. He filled his days whistling to classical tunes on his vintage multi-band radio, watching Westerns on TV, and smoking cigarettes from morning ’til night. He’s most noted in family lore for “taking a fall” unexpectedly during the day. Walking from one room to another, maybe coming to dinner, or on his way to the bathroom, you’d suddenly hear a crash. “Grandpa Fell!” the kids would all responsively shout. You rarely if ever witnessed the actual fall, he miraculously never got hurt, but he made sure that everyone knew it happened. He put on quite a show. “Evelyn, bring me my cigarettes” is the next thing you’d hear. My … Read More »

Surely you must surmise that success and fulfillment lie outside of your comfort zone. If your primary motivation is a desire for the comfort that success promises, you’re creating an unresolvable inner conflict. If you seek fulfillment, then do not seek comfort but embrace discomfort until it becomes more comfortable. – Albert Pellissier

It’s useful to think of your priorities in concentric circles, like an archery target. In the center is your highest priority: you. If you can’t take care of this one, you won’t be able to work on any other priorities. In the next ring is economics, including your job, investments, and even your house. If you can’t get this one right you place a burden on everyone from your family to your country. Once you get the first two straight then you’ll have the time and energy to be of benefit to family, friends, and partners. – adapted from Scott Adams “How to fail at almost everything and still win big”

“Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don’t exist in the human experience. We must walk into the arena, whatever it may be—a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation—with courage and a willingness to engage. Rather than sitting on the sidelines and hurling judgment and advice, we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen. This is vulnerability. This is daring greatly.” ~ Brené Brown from Daring Greatly

My Mother-in-law will turn 84 this week. She’s still able to live on her own in her own apartment but of course has a few issues to deal with as she gets older. As she’ll attest, “my mind is not what it used to be”! Last week a social worker popped in to give her a checkup and make sure she has the mental faculty to safely live on her own. I’m happy to say, she passed the test.

The social worker was explaining to us that one of her common procedures is to ask the elderly to assess their own life. They are simply testing the person’s cognitive skills to see if they can remember and articulate about their past. They are not concerned with the actual answer but instead if the person can do it or not.

I’m not ready, It’s not good enough yet, I need to learn more first. Waiting for everything to be just right before taking action is the surest way to accomplish nothing in your life. Yes Perfection is one of the most insidious forms of Resistance. This is what we’ll cover on the next Live Quick-Wisdom Podcast, Tuesdays at 12 noon CDT (1pm EDT – 11am MDT – 10am PDT). 15 minutes of Quick Wisdom and 15 minutes of Q&A on any Entrepreneurial Question, Money, Wealth, Passive Income, Real Estate, Enjoying Life, etc. with your host Albert Pellissier – Multimillionaire Real Estate Investor, Salon Owner, and Professional Thinker & Speaker. Register for the Live Call Here: AskAlbert.net

“A lack of fear of embarrassment is what allows one to be proactive. It’s what makes a person take on challenges that others right off as too risky. It’s what makes you take the first step before you know what the second step is. If you can’t handle the risk of embarrassment, rejection, and failure, you need to learn how, it is indeed a learnable skill.” – from “How to fail at almost everything and still win big” by Scott Adams

How much money would you have to make annually to be in the Top 1% of Income earners in the World? This would put you in an elite category earning more money than the other 99% of the people on the planet.

In 1901, a few wise people suspected they could find oil underneath Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas. Most went broke trying to reach it. Anthony Lucas persisted long enough and drilled deep enough to finally uncork what became known as the Lucas Gusher in Spindletop Field. It produced 100,000 barrels a day for the next 30 years. The find sparked the Texas and Gulf Coast Oil Boom. By 1902 the area had over 500 companies drilling for oil.

Just imagine your piece of property sitting atop one of the largest finds yet to be discovered. You’re tragically oblivious to the untapped reserves of wealth, power, freedom, and opportunity quietly resting deep underneath. Why would you ever look? Who would even think to explore it unless tipped off by someone in-the-know? What a shame to have these resources available to you and never know they’re there?

This is what keeps me motivated, alerting you to your deep … Read More »

Increasing your creativity and intuition and using that to make better decisions and choices is what I’ll be talking about today on the Quick-Wisdom Call at 12 noon (CDT). Join me by registering here: AskAlbert.net

Take a moment to think of the one thing that’s causing you the most stress in your life. Got it? Come on, pause and think for a moment, what is it? Ok, so now take another moment and decide what do you ”Wish” was happening instead of this stressful situation or circumstance? Aren’t you wishing something were different? Aren’t you wishing something would just go away so you don’t have to deal with it?

The difference between what is actually happening in your life (current reality) and how you Wish it was is the “Wish Gap”. Another name for the Wish Gap is Stress. Yes that’s right, every trace of stress in your life is a result of Wishing things were different than they are. That’s it.

The harder we struggle against “what is”, the more stress we experience. Of course we … Read More »

“Let’s look at the rest of the animal kingdom. Do any other species try to get all their sleep in one long stretch? No. They’re all multiphasic, meaning that they have many phases of sleep. Homo sapiens (our modern industrialized variety, anyway) stand alone in attempting to satisfy the need for sleep in one phase. And even that distinction is a relatively recent development. For most of our history, a rest during the day was considered as necessary a component of human existence as sleeping at night. As A. Roger Ekirch, one of the few historians to study sleep, put it, ‘Napping is a tool as old as time itself.”

“George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: ‘The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.’ So don’t bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking—and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It’s the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth—and one of the best.” – Dale Carnegie from “How to stop worrying and start living”

Wish you had a free Life Consultant? You do. Join the Quick Wisdom Podcast Live on Tuesdays at 12 noon (CDT) register here: AskAlbert.net

A friend of mine is an extremely successful Commercial Real Estate broker. He lists and sells buildings in the 10’s of Million dollar price range. This brings him into contact with Billionaire clients on a regular basis. I asked him, “is anything markedly different about these people that you think leads to success on this scale?”. His answer was that, “they know exactly what they want.” He went on to say that they were always looking for something particular, they knew what they wanted to do with it, and knew what it was worth to them. They also knew what it wasn’t worth, and if the deal didn’t match up to what they wanted, they didn’t chase it. They simply passed on it, no sign of grasping or acting out of desperation. Patient and willing to wait for what they wanted.
Do you know … Read More »

“The power to hold on is characteristic of all men who have accomplished anything great; they may lack in some other particular, have many weaknesses or eccentricities, but the quality of persistence is never absent from a successful man. No matter what opposition he meets or what discouragement overtakes him, drudgery cannot disgust him, obstacles cannot discourage him, labor cannot weary him; misfortune, sorrow, and reverses cannot harm him. It is not so much brilliancy of intellect, or fertility of resource, as persistency of effort, constancy of purpose, that makes a great man. Those who succeed in life are the men and women who keep everlastingly at it, who do not believe themselves geniuses, but who know that if they ever accomplish anything they must do it by determined and persistent industry.”

“When you are taking to meditation and beginning to change your habits, it sometimes looks as if you’re having a very thin time. I’m not trying to mislead anyone. This is hard work. In fact, my younger students sometimes tell me plaintively, “Life used to be so pleasant for us. Why is it now so . . . so icky?”

I sympathize. When I went through the same thing, I complained about it to my spiritual teacher, my grandmother. She was a very plainspoken teacher, with none of the euphemisms of the intellectual, so she simply led me to a nearby amla tree. The amla is a beautiful tree, a little like the mimosa, with a small fruit. She picked a fruit and said, “Here, take a bite.” I started chewing. It was pretty awful.

I was recently invited to have lunch with a friend of mine so he could bounce a few business strategy ideas off of me. We discussed at length various ways to cut costs, increase revenues, and simplify the systems he’s currently using. A good two hours deep into the discussion, after having a complete strategy and plan worked out, he says to me, “You know Albert, I really believe that this business could make at least $100,000 a year or more if I implement everything we talked about and do the things I need to do but,” (insert dramatic music here) “in the back of mind there’s always this thought that haunts me, that I really don’t deserve all of this money.”

STOP. HOLD THE PRESSES. (insert record needle scratching sound here)
I was stunned and replied, “As long as you feel that way, that … Read More »

“Your Self-Image “makes you act like you.” It keeps you within your comfort zone. If you are below your zone, Self-Image makes you uncomfortable and turns up your power until you are within the zone. Likewise, if you are above your zone, the Self-Image will cut your power, dropping you back within your zone. As long as you “act like you,” the Self-Image is content and does not interfere. To change your performance, you must change your Self-Image and elevate your comfort zone.

Controlling that change in your Self-Image may be the most important skill you will ever learn. You can change any … Read More »

I’ve developed a pill that will guarantee success in any endeavor. I only have a few of them and I’m not sure how to go about deciding who should get them. I don’t want to run afoul of the FDA, and we don’t have the 10 years necessary to complete medical trials. Just send me a short description of what kind of success you’d like to achieve and how much you’d be willing to pay to have it happen to you instantly. Let’s think of it as an auction. I’ll make sure to get them to the people with the best use and highest bid.

Please don’t call the authorities. I’ll confess now, I don’t really have the magic success pill, but I’ve come to realize that this is what most people want.

“Your ordinary self is extraordinary. Save yourself the frustration of trying to be a super version of yourself. Simply allow the unharnessed authentic version to be free. This is the highest level of attainment anyone can aspire to. It’s the realization of their inherent potential. The inherent part means it’s already all there.” – Albert Pellissier

“There is enough latent force in a Maximite torpedo shell to tear a warship to pieces. But the amount of force or explosive power in one of these terrific engines of destruction could never be ascertained by any ordinary concussion.

Children could play with it for years, pound it, roll it about, and do all sorts of things with it; the shell might be shot through the walls of an ordinary building, without arousing its terrible dynamic energy. It must be fired from a cannon, with terrific force, through a foot or so of steel plate armor, before it meets with resistance great enough to evoke its mighty explosive power.

Every man is a stranger to his greatest strength, his mightiest power, until the test of a great responsibility, a critical emergency, or a supreme crisis in his life, calls it out.”

“Your other self will not do the work for you, it will simply guide you in the direction of the most efficient and simplest path to accomplish your objective.” – Napoleon Hill

This other self is your higher self, the one that we, acting as our lower self, insist on wrestling with. Our higher self knows what we need to do and the best way to do it, but our ego resists masterfully using clever tactics like self-doubt to keep us from taking action. This makes everything more difficult. This is the root of our constant struggle. This is what keeps us from pursuing the simple path of success and fulfillment, even though we know the way. – Albert Pellissier

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When my brother and I were little kids, we’d play football in my Grandma’s front yard. Dad took turns being the quarterback as we called our own plays in the intense one-on-one matchup. Grandma’s yard seemed to be as long as a real football field. It was only later after returning as an adult that I realized it was barely a patch of grass. My little brother, Mike, always called the same play, “The Bomb”. My Dad would repeatedly try to get him to mix up his plays, but he’d hear none of it. “OK Mike, what do you want to do this time?” “The bomb, Dad, let’s go for the bomb!” You might be wondering how this strategy of going for the big score every single time paid off. Not very well. Occasionally he got the one-play touchdown, but not often. It … Read More »

Ask yourself, “what would I want to be doing if I had $10 Million and only 10 years to live?” To bring it in to sharper focus you can ramp it up and ask, “If I had $20 Million and only 5 years left, how would I want to be spending my time?” If what you are actually doing is nowhere near your answer, it may be time for a change. It’s always possible to start doing things that at least point you in the right direction. Surely there is something you can engage in that would give you a taste, something that at least has the flavor of what you’d like to be doing even though you are lacking the resources at the moment to do it on a grand scale. The resource we have the least amount of is time, … Read More »

I heard this over the weekend at a meditation retreat and it really struck me in its broadness. Can you get anymore inclusive than this? It wasn’t just a love of humanity, or even all the beings on earth, no, it’s all beings throughout space. He’s throwing in the aliens too. I thought, this is great, can you possibly be more loving than this? It’s loving the entire universe all at once. Albert

What are you going to do with your immense value? A few weeks ago we discussed Unlocking Your Value and letting it flow. (see post here) I want to suggest that you find ways to give it away, at least to get you going. The common approach to life is to think about what we want to get, what we don’t have yet, what we would like to be different and better than what we have now. I call this chasing life. It causes us to look at the top part of the glass that’s empty, even if it’s almost up to the rim already.

It is possible to get and have all of these things that you desire, and you should have them. Your desire is the promise that whatever you want is possible, and something you should find a way to achieve. … Read More »

“When we do what we want to do, we are committed.
When we do what we have to do, we are compliant.”

– Marshall Goldsmith from “What got you here, won’t get you there”

So how would you like to do only what you wanted to do…every single day? What if you had enough money that money was no longer a concern? What would your life look like and what would you actually choose to do? Would you simply fill it with leisure, or travel? Maybe at first you would, but eventually you’d experience the diminishing returns of pleasure and want to contribute your talents and gifts in some way in order to feel fulfilled. Is a life like this possible for yourself? Yes it is. It’s called the life of a Lifestyle Entrepreneur. You CAN elevate your life to this point, and I … Read More »

“The way to get through anything mentally painful is to take it a little at a time. The mind can’t handle dealing with a massive iceberg of pain in front of it, but it can deal with short nuggets that will come to an end. So instead of thinking, Ugh, I’ve got twenty-four miles to go, focus on making it to the next telephone pole in the distance. Whether you’re running twenty or one hundred and twenty miles at a time, the distance has to be tackled mentally and physically one mile at a time. The ability to compartmentalize pain into these small bite sizes is key.” From “Spartan Up” by Joe De Sena

I’m looking for only 10 people who want to live easy and have fun too. My brand new program, “No-Stress Success: 3 secrets of a super productive … Read More »

“It’s a beautiful idea. Psychologists call it adversarial growth or post-traumatic growth. “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” is not a cliché but fact.

The struggle against an obstacle inevitably propels the fighter to a new level of functioning. The extent of the struggle determines the extent of the growth. The obstacle is an advantage, not adversity. The enemy is any perception that prevents us from seeing this.”

~ Ryan Holiday from The Obstacle Is the Way

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Watching my teenage daughter anxiously stress, struggle, and strive for good grades in school made me realize how early in life we are indoctrinated into the “reward culture”. We are trained from an early age to seek the finish line, the reward, the trophy. We are promised that once we achieve, arrive, and attain what we’re after, everything will be great, and then and only then will we feel fantastic and fulfilled and be able to relax, basking in our accomplishments, deeply satisfied.

But how long do we celebrate before looking ahead to the next finish line? Not long. All of the hard work, homework, and hard won grades attained in High School turn out to be just a brief hurdle, simply an obligatory stepping stone to get into a good college. The college career is a stepping stone to the … Read More »

We are all plagued by self-doubt as to our ultimate value and wonder if what we have is good enough to offer the world. This causes us to hold back and operate cautiously. We are scared to “let it all hang out” because we might be kidding ourselves, simply delusional about what we are capable of. Our boldness and confidence might lead to complete embarrassment and humiliation if we take the risk to bare our soul. So instead, we play it safe. Take a baby step. How did that go? Not too bad. Take another. Confidence is building. Maybe we’re not just kidding ourselves. Don’t get crazy now – take it easy man. Let’s build on what we have.

Look, the bottom line is, life is short, and we really don’t have the time to crawl along this slowly. By the time we realize what it’s all about, we’ll be in assisted living. Even … Read More »

“The opposite of Resistance is Assistance. A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope. This is serious juju. The universe responds to this. It has no choice. Your work-in-progress produces its own gravitational field, created by your will and your attention. This field attracts like-spirited entities into it’s orbit.” – from “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield

You know I’m a big fan of mediation to enhance your life experience. My friend Rolf sent this to me today, it’s a good short read:
http://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-young-meditation-age-related-loss-gray.html

“There are three kinds of business in the world: mine, yours, and God’s. Notice when you were hurt that you are mentally out of your business. If you’re not sure, stop and ask, ‘mentally, whose business am I in?’ Whose business is it if an earthquake happens? God’s business. Whose business is it if your neighbor down the street has an ugly lawn? Your neighbor’s business. Whose business is it if you are ANGRY at your neighbor down the street because he has an ugly lawn? Your business. Life is simple—it is internal.” – Byron Katie from “Loving What Is”

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“Give yourself a raise! We only make what we think we deserve. When you invest in yourself through effort, taking classes, or loosening the grip on your money to let it flow and either hire someone to assist you, or purchase those tools that you need to do better work, you then simultaneously increase what you think you’re worth. This in turn will allow you to be open to receive, and that will bring your new raise in the form of a much-deserved dividend on your investment.”
– Albert Pellissier

People who work for themselves are happier because of the freedom that working for one’s self permits. So valuable is the opportunity to be one’s own boss that studies show you have to pay people twice as much to get them to work for others and still have the same level of job satisfaction as being self-employed. – Entrepreneur Magazine

A former neighbor of mine, Richard White Jr., became the Dean of the LSU Business College. He recently invited me to have lunch with him on the top floor of the Business College’s Ivory Tower (now this was the first time I was ever summoned to the Dean’s Office for a good reason). His first question was, “Why did I become an entrepreneur?” As I recounted my life story, it was obvious to both of us that I didn’t do it for the money. “You know what you are?” he stated rhetorically, “I see you as a Lifestyle Entrepreneur.” “Hmmm”, I responded, “I really like that.” I always thought I was just lazy, somewhat of a slacker, an underachiever compared to the cultural notion of the classic entrepreneur. What a relief. I never could motivate myself to make money for money’s sake, and I know now that no one can. Money is never enough … Read More »

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“Resistance knows that the amateur composer will never write his symphony because he is overly invested in its success and overterrified of its failure. The amateur takes it so seriously it paralyzes him.” – Steven Pressfield

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How would you like the confidence of knowing to your core that you already have everything inside that you need to be extraordinarily successful and at the same time have the effortless discipline and motivation to take action on the things you want to achieve without the internal struggle? Doesn’t that sound fantastic? Well the first part is true and the second part can be accomplished with resistance therapy. I suggest you read and digest two books at the same time to give yourself this winning combination and proper mindset that would allow it to happen. “The war of art” by Steven Pressfield, and “I had it all the time” by Alan Cohen. This is the cocktail that did it for me. Albert

Have trouble turning off your busy mind and getting to sleep at night?
I just added a sleep tape … Read More »

The idea of “Resistance” came from a book I read while on Christmas vacation a year ago, “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. As I was reading it, I knew my life was about to change. Some things resonate so truthfully that if you ignore them you must take full responsibility for your cowardice, accept your impending failure, and say to yourself, “You just ain’t got it kid”. Once the enemy had a name – Resistance, I had to admit that for my entire life up to that point I had always given in to it.

So what is Resistance? It takes so many forms that almost everything is resistance. It’s anything that stops us from doing what we know we should be doing with our lives, things that elevate us, the pursuit of our calling and purpose. It’s the artist that doesn’t paint, the writer that doesn’t write, … Read More »

The only difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that the successful ones take action. Are you ready? Are you willing to commit to the Resistance Therapy Challenge and take action on every single intuitive idea that pops into your head this week? If you have the urge to say yes, but in that same instant you hesitate, then that’s Resistance right there. It’s what’s been holding you back. Yes it’s scary I know and you should be scared. Why? Because if you do this you will succeed and when you get to the bottom of it our biggest fear is fear of success. That’s why we play it safe and go for the bunt. It’s uncomfortable to succeed, it feels weird. We are not used to it. Better to stay where we are, at least it’s familiar. But if … Read More »

I’m daring you to take the “Resistance Therapy Challenge” next week. The challenge is to take immediate action on every idea that pops into your head that is instantly met by Resistance. What is resistance? Resistance is our mortal enemy and rears it’s ugly head whenever we get the notion to do something that will elevate our life, to go from a lower state to a higher state. It comes in many forms, procrastination, self-doubt, fear, distraction, perfectionism, timidity, etc. It’s anything that keeps us from doing the work we know we need to be doing, whether it be to create art, start an enterprise, diet, or program of spiritual advancement, etc. 13 People took the challenge last year around this time of year and it was a blast. They were changing jobs, applying to grad school, embarking on bold … Read More »

“The problem with friends and family is that they know us as we are. They are invested in maintaining us as we are. The last thing we want is to remain as we are. If you’re reading this quote, it’s because you sense inside you a second self, an unlived you. With some exceptions (God bless them), Friends and family are the enemy of this unmanifested you, this unborn self, this future being. Prepare yourself to make new friends. They will appear, trust me.” from “Do The Work!” By Steven Pressfield

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Ok so you’ve certainly had many, or at least some, achievements in your life. Here’s the question, “do you feel successful?” If the answer is yes, then you are a rare bird. Most people, even super achievers usually answer “no”. Why is this?

I believe it must be some sort of alignment issue. We can achieve all we want but if these achievements don’t align with a deeper part of ourselves, we will never feel successful. This deeper part is your second self, it’s the unlived part of your being. It knows and senses that we are not really living fully, not reaching for all that we are capable of, that we are playing it much too safe, playing for security, comfort, and retirement. Playing in this little league will never lead to feeling successful.

Have you ever taken kids on a vacation only to be bombarded with their whining and complaining about everything that’s not meeting up to their expectations? As you shake your head and stare down at them while you wonder where did you go wrong raising these ungrateful spoiled brats. “What’s wrong with you kids? We are on a nice (and expensive) vacation here, and all you can do is bitch about what’s not perfect. Put those damn phones away and at least look out the window and see some scenery.”

Would you ever go on vacation and spend the time mindlessly watching TV, playing Candy Crush on the computer, or sleeping through it? Hopefully not. I’ll admit to being lazy at home but when it’s vacation time I’m up early and want to maximize the experience.

One of my favorite quotes that enlightens my perspective … Read More »

“A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate. Don’t think. Act. We can always revise and revisit once we have acted. But we can accomplish nothing until we act.” – Steven Pressfield from “Do The Work”

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“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” – Admiral Jim Stockdale – the highest ranking United States military officer to be a prisoner of war during Vietnam (8 years). He shouldered the burden of command during his captivity so that he could create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken. After release he said, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

Maybe it’s just the way my antennae is tuned lately, but I think I may be witnessing a Spiritual Revolution in Business. Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”, while neither one being newly published, both talk about great enduring American companies and how and why they got that way. Reading between the lines you can see an underlying force that these great companies all had “a higher purpose.” Higher than simply making profit for profit’s sake. The comparison companies that didn’t measure up to the standard of “great” certainly had profitability in many cases, yet they couldn’t surpass the “good” mark and reach “greatness” by shear pursuit of profit alone. In every case it took something more, something hard to define and pin down. Simon Sinek referred to it as “knowing their why”. What … Read More »

“There are only right and wrong choices. If you make a wrong choice your body knows it, but if you make a right choice the body knows that and relaxes and forgets right away that there was a choice. You reload your body, like a gun, for the next choice. If you want to use your body again for making the same choice, it doesn’t work.” – Carlos Castaneda

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“The world doesn’t yield to us directly, our description of the world stands in between. So, properly speaking, we are always one step removed and our experience of the world is always a recollection of the experience. If and whenever you can stop your internal dialogue, the world collapses and extraordinary facets of ourselves surface, as though they had been kept heavily guarded by our words. You are like you are, because you tell yourself that you are that way.” – Carlos Castaneda from “Tales of Power”

How can you stop the internal dialog? I personally know of no other better way than daily meditation. It’s a simple practice but one that takes discipline in the beginning before it becomes habit (like all good habits). If you can hang in there long enough you’ll notice that the internal chatter of your … Read More »

“Impeccability is to do your best in whatever you’re engaged in. The key to matters of impeccability is the sense of having or not having time. When you feel and act like an immortal being that has all the time in the world you are not impeccable; at those times you should turn, look around, and then you will realize that you’re feeling of having time is an idiocy. There are no survivors on this earth!” – Carlos Castaneda from “Tales of Power” (the strangest book I’ve ever read)

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“It must be our human condition to take for granted all of the good things in our life and focus on the few things we wish were better. This creates a distorted view of the true picture of our lives and can lead to anxiety and unnecessary stress as we become completely wrapped and focused on all that we want to change. It can make us feel unworthy, create self-doubt, and blind us to the unlimited well of goodness within us.

I believe by virtue of experience that this predisposition can be overcome by simple changes in perspective. This is why I’ve been dedicated to sharing little tidbits of wisdom over the last several years, because I know that one serendipitous idea can give you a fresh new look and change your perspective completely in that moment. I’m driven by my love for humanity to … Read More »

“Your human spirit longs to be free, to live fully, enjoy, and express itself. We imagine that we are bound by circumstances, lack of money, and resources, but this is an illusion. The binds that hold us down are all mental; fears, doubt, and a tragic miscalculation of what brings pleasure and pain in the long run vs. the short run. The good news is that all of these limitations can be overcome by mastering your own mind, which doesn’t cost a thing save a bit of focused effort. Let’s make this effort together in 2015 and experience the freedom of really living instead of letting it drip away in the lap of comfort. Happy New Year!” Albert Pellissier

We are born with the useful aspect of having an ego as our guardian. But too often a guardian becomes a guard. A guardian is broad-minded and understanding, a guard on the other hand, is a vigilante, narrow-minded and most of the time despotic. – Carlos Castaneda adapted from “Tales of Power”

“Trust is the foundation for advancement. When you trust your neighbors, the people you do business with, your employer, or employees, you can relax enough to take a chance or a risk that propels you further. When people can trust you, you have their back allowing them to stick their necks out and achieve something for themselves.” – Albert Pellissier

Simon (Sinek) says in his book “First Ask Why” that the most important question you can ask yourself is “Why?” you do what you do. For me I’ve always wanted to get the optimal enjoyment from what I know is a brief privilege we call life. As I find things that help me enjoy life more, I feel compelled to share them so others will enjoy their life more. Serendipitously as I share, I enjoy my own life more. This is WHY I keep doing it, for both of us!

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!”” – W.H. Murray – Everest climbing mountaineer

“We all want the feeling of getting ahead. But getting ahead of what exactly? Getting ahead means giving more of everything than you are asking in return; value, love, service, etc. Falling behind is asking for more than you’re giving. The feeling of getting ahead comes from being a net benefit to the universe and that’s what feels good.” – Albert

The most powerful question you can ask yourself is, “What do I want?” At any time and in any situation – regardless of the circumstances – you can always ask and answer that question. “What do I want?” Is really asking “What result do I want to create?” This is a much better question than asking, “How do I get what I want?” Which limits you to the results of what you already know how to do or can conceive of doing, thereby stifling your creativity. – from “The path of least resistance” by Robert Fritz

“Do you believe that your past determines your future? To the extent that you believe that the past determines the future, you will tend to allow yourself to be a passive vessel that does not actively change its course. Such beliefs are responsible for magnifying many people’s inertia. You can overcome this by increasing your gratitude about the good things in your past which intensifies positive memories, and to learn how to forgive past wrongs which defuses the bitterness that makes satisfaction impossible.” – Martin Seligman, “Authentic Happiness”

“In your whole life nobody has ever abused you more than you have abused yourself. And the limit of your self-abuse is exactly the limit that you will tolerate from someone else. If someone abuses you a little more than you abuse yourself, you will probably walk away from that person. But if someone abuses you a little less than you abuse yourself, you will probably stay in the relationship and tolerate it endlessly.

If you abuse yourself very badly, you can even tolerate someone who beats you up, humiliates you, and treats you like dirt. Why? Because in your belief system you say, “I deserve it. This person is doing me a favor by being with me. I’m not worthy of love and respect. I am not good enough.”

“it is not my job to rescue the world; my role is to be at peace. It is not my function to fix anyone; my purpose is to find the highest good in everyone I see. It is not my responsibility to make everyone happy; trying to make everyone happy is insane, impractical, and impossible. If someone does not wish to be happy, it will do you no good to try to wrest their misery from them. They will not part with it readily, and you will become frustrated. Country wisdom advises, ‘Never wrestle with a pig, you will both get dirty, and the pig likes it.’ Simply love those who do not recognize their own worth. Your vision of their inner beauty will invite them to discover it themselves.” – Alan Cohen from “I had it all the time”

Here’s the difference between pessimists and optimists when dealing with setbacks or frustrations: “pessimists automatically think ‘it’s going to last forever, undermine everything, and it’s my fault’, optimists, in contrast, interpret the setbacks as surmountable, particular to a single problem, and resulting from temporary circumstances or other people.” – Martin Seligman from “Authentic Happiness”

“How majestic is naturalness. I have never met a man whom I really considered a great man who was not always natural and simple. Affectation is inevitably the work of one not sure of himself.” – Charles Dawes

The Criticism Fast: “For one day resolve, ‘I will criticize nothing that occurs today. I will imagine that everything that happens is for my good and the good of others. I will release myself from the judgments I have laid upon myself. I will see myself, my motivations, and my actions as pure. I will not agree with the critical or judgmental words or attitudes of others. I will not deny the good within and around me. I give this entire day to the celebration of good.’” – from “I had it all the time” by Alan Cohen

“Were you told to work hard and if you did you’d be successful and that once you were successful you’d be happy? So what happened? Why didn’t it work out? Turns out they lied. Research now shows you have to be happy first before you can be successful. So now the task is to focus on how to be happy now and you’ll be on your way to success.” – Albert

“If you were going to be a dancer, life comes from that door because life thinks you must be a dancer by now. It knocks on that door, but you are not there—you are a banker. How is life expected to know that you would become a banker? Life comes to you the way your nature wanted you to be; it knows only that address—but you are never found there, you are somewhere else, hiding behind somebody else’s mask, in somebody else’s garb, under somebody else’s name. Existence goes on searching for you. It knows your name, but you have forgotten that name. It knows your address, but you have never lived at that address. You allowed the world to distract you.” – Osho from “Joy: The Happiness That Comes From Within”

“We come with empty hands and we will go with empty hands, so what is the point of claiming so much in the meantime? But this is what we know, what the world tells us: possess, dominate, have more than others have. It may be money or it may be virtue; it does not matter in what kind of coins you deal— they may be worldly, they may be otherworldly. But be very clever, otherwise you will be exploited . Exploit and don’t be exploited—that is the subtle message given to you with your mother’s milk. And every school, college, university, is rooted in the idea of competition.

A real education will not teach you to compete; it will teach you to cooperate. It will not teach you to fight and come first. It will teach you to be creative , … Read More »

“Meditation comes when you are happy. But to be happy is difficult and to learn meditation is easy . To be happy means a drastic change in your way of life— an abrupt change, because there is no time to lose. A sudden change, a discontinuity, a discontinuity with the past. A sudden clash of thunder and you die to the old and you start afresh from ABC. You again start your life as you would have done if there had been no pattern enforced by your parents, by your society, by the state; as you would have done, must have done, if there had been nobody to distract you. But you were distracted. You have to drop all those patterns that have been forced on you, and you have to find your own inner flame.” – Osho

“The pilot of a new jet plane was winging over the Catskills and pointed out a pleasant valley to his second in command. “See that spot?” he demanded. “When I was a barefoot kid, I used to sit in a flat-bottomed rowboat down there, fishing. Every time a plane flew by I would look up and dream I was piloting it. Now I look down and dream I am fishing.”

“Many people have gotten to the top of the ladder and find it’s against the wrong wall. It’s dreadful. And then to descend the whole ladder and start up another… Forget the ladder and just wander, bump around. When you wander, think of what you want to do that day, not what you told yourself you were going to want to do. And there are two things you must not worry about when you have no responsibilities: one is being hungry, and the other is what people will think of you. Wandering time is positive. Don’t think of new things, don’t think of achievement, don’t think of any-thing of the kind. Just think, ‘Where do I feel good? What is giving me joy?’” – Joseph Campbell from “Reflections on the Art of Living”

You can only get so far in life operating within the limits, fears, and self-doubt that comes from your self-image. This 1 hour workshop will bring you behind the mask of your own self-image and identity and reveal to you a more powerful authentic self. When you operate from this deeper, truer self, you can break out of your past limitations to achieve success and peace that is currently unknown to you.

Workshop will be at Agame Yoga Center, Sunday, September 14th at 6:30pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance here or at the door.

“Whenever you are confused, you can become clear by asking and answering this question: What do I want? Not to try to solve a problem or determine a process, but to develop an instinct for knowing what you want, and accurately describing the truth to yourself. Confusion usually comes from focusing on process, or solution instead of asking and knowing where you want to go first.” – “The path of least resistance” – by Robert Fritz

“Deep in my heart I know my destiny is what I make it. I cannot be ruled by planets, bacteria, or economics. And neither can any of us be injured by anything outside of our own mind – unless we agree it is so.” – Alan Cohen

“At the end of your life you’re going to ask, did I love, did I live, did I matter? Why not ask these questions now while you still have time to focus on what matters and do something about it?” – Brendon Burchard

“I am never upset for the reason I think.” – A course in miraclesApply this statement today to every upset large and small and examine your mind a little deeper for whatever is distressing you. You’ll find that you are usually reacting on the surface to a separate underlying disturbance of your peace of mind that has no real connection to the annoying trigger.

“If you are not living with a whole heart now, the end of the world poses no threat; your life is already gone. Life is only as valuable as our presence to enjoy it. To miss the beauty of the moment because you are preparing to protect yourself from the next one, is to trade a precious gem for a cheap trinket.” Alan Cohen – until my book is ready to publish, read this guy.

“It is not selfish to be happy. It is your highest purpose. Your joy is the greatest contribution you can make to life on the planet. A heart at peace with its owner blesses everyone it touches. The energy you broadcast is more important than the activities you undertake. Remember it is the spirit in which we act that nourishes or starves us. To make yourself happy will only enhance the quality of life on earth. The gift we came to share is spirit.” – Alan Cohen

“Imagination is the power of creation, yet we have often used it against ourselves. Worry is simply vision used destructively; we manufacture what we do not want instead of what we do. We are all geniuses; the only difference between famous creators and struggling artists is that the creators believe in their visions and have the faith to move with their impulses.” – Alan Cohen from “I had it all the time”

“It is impossible to give something without receiving it the moment you give it; whatever energy you broadcast to others must flow through you before it gets to them. Anger, judgment, and resentment take their toll on the giver before they reach the intended recipient; and if the other person refuses to except the poisoned ‘gift,’ the only one who suffers is the sender. By the same principle, love, compassion, and forgiveness will heal you before they are delivered to their recipient. And even if the receiver is unable to except these gifts, you will enjoy their blessings.” – Alan Cohen from “I Had It All The Time”

I personally remember the first time I felt a distinct profound sense of peace during a meditation and it floored me. I was 49 years old at the time and thought to myself, “I can’t believe I’ve never felt a moment like this in the half-century that I’ve been alive.” Of course once you “taste” it, you definitely want more and once you know it’s possible, it’s certainly easier to find it again. No matter if you are younger or older than 49, I certainly say it’s something that you want to experience while you are here on Earth. Luckily for you it won’t take a year of meditation to find this place like it did for me. I was fortunate enough to find out about and … Read More »

“You would not tolerate insane behavior on your part and would hardly advance the excuse that you could not help it. Why should you tolerate insane thinking? You believe that you are responsible for what you do but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think. You must change your mind, not your behavior, and this is a matter of will.” – A Course in Miracles

“The way you receive compliments is symbolic of the extent to which you are willing to let love enter and fill your life. For a week or month, assume that if someone says or does something kind to you, it is because they truly mean it, and you deserve the blessings they proffer. As you let the love in, your life will change in miraculous ways.” – Alan Cohen

“Whilst I stand in simple relations to my fellow-man, I have no displeasure in meeting him. We meet as water meets water, or as two currents of air mix, with perfect diffusion and interpenetration of nature. But as soon as there is any departure from simplicity, and attempt at halfness, or good for me that is not good for him, my neighbour feels the wrong; he shrinks from me as far as I have shrunk from him; his eyes no longer seek mine; there is war between us; there is hate in him and fear in me.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“None of us know very much, and by the very nature of our being can never know as much as we need to know in order to live sanely and enjoy life while we live. Humility is a forerunner of success! Until we become humble in our own hearts we are not apt to profit greatly by the experiences and thoughts of others.” – Napoleon Hill

“Our default tendency to focus on external circumstances is a continuous assault to convince us of our limitations. To refresh the truth of our unlimited nature you must vigilantly look within.” – Albert Pellissier

“I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do for any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” – William Penn

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Man can either buy his wisdom or borrow it. By buying it, he pays full price in personal time and treasure. But by borrowing it, he capitalizes on the lessons learned from the failures of others.”

We all want things in our life that we don’t seem to have now, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll find that what you really want is the “feeling” that these things will give you and ultimately not the actual thing itself. So why not figure out first what these “feelings” are that make up your deepest and most motivating “Core Desires”? Once we know that, we can look for opportunities to find and do things right now that make us feel that way. This will turn out to lead us to the right resources, the right people, and toward the right path.

Get Tickets Here

The process of this workshop will help you to boil things down, to distill, to get clarity, and to reveal the deepest 4 or 5 Core Desires that … Read More »

Relax, Focus, Flow! Workshop Series. Donation Class, Sunday, June 22nd from 6:30pm – 7:30pm at Agame Yoga Center 635 S. Acadian Thruway. Come and travel with me on a Conscious Voyage Through Your Chakras. Your Awareness will be guided through the 7 energy centers and your focused Attention will be clearing all of the channels along the way. This is a powerful experience that will reveal to you the immense but hidden reserves of innate wisdom and knowledge available to you at all times.

The Beauty of this Journey is that you will be totally conscious the entire time, experiencing it first hand. You will marvel at the mysterious landscape of this unseen part of your being. The roots of your biggest challenges will show up here as simply rusty connections to the infinite sources of power within your reach.

The ego has adopted self-imposed limiting beliefs in order to protect you from any pain in life. The authentic part of you is infinitely bigger and wants to push past, be free, and break out of the confines of the ego, because being trapped inside is even worse. One rubs up against the other, it’s your edge, and you’ll always find this edge wherever you find your fears. – Albert Pellissier

“Repeat the affirmation, ‘all my needs will always be met,’ and feel how it is to feel after all of your needs have been met. Until you find this feeling, you should not expect the affirmation to work. Every time that you have a need and that need is met, a certain feeling is then produced in you. That same feeling you have to feel the very instant you speak the affirmation. You then open a channel that instant to your own intuition, through which all good comes. In this state of mind one has inspiration and will.” – Gurudeva

Everything you’ve always wanted to know about race but were afraid to ask. Meet one of my favorite people on Earth, Brandon Simmons, an African-American Entrepreneur, Philosopher, and Owner of Mr. Carter’s Men’s Grooming Lounge. It’s a Barber Shop like no other. When you step inside the door you can bet there’ll be a lively and provacative conversation going on with an empowering and uplifting twist. I’m Albert Pellissier, a Caucasian Entrepreneur, Philosopher (which translates as “he who loves wisdom”), and Owner of Salon Studios. I met Brandon when he leased space inside Salon Studios to open his Mr. Carter’s prototype. His success would be my success so we shared business ideas and became fast friends. He would tell you that I’m his mentor, but I find myself drawn to the Barber Shop because I always learn so much from Brandon.

“If you have a golf-ball-sized consciousness, when you read a book, you’ll have a golf-ball-sized understanding; when you look out a window, a golf-ball-sized awareness; when you wake up in the morning, a golf-ball-sized wakefulness; and as you go about your day, a golf-ball-sized inner happiness.

But if you can expand that consciousness, make it grow, then when you read that book, you’ll have more understanding; when you look out, more awareness; when you wake up, more wakefulness; and as you go about your day, more inner happiness.

You can catch ideas at a deeper level, and creativity really flows. It makes life more like a fantastic game.” – David Lynch

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to men as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks in his cavern.” – William Blake from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”

It’s ironic but profound that this quote comes from a person making a living as an internet news aggregator.

I agree with him totally, we must escape the constant assault on our attention in order to connect to our souls as much as possible. There’s no more of an effective antidote than starting a meditation practice if you have the wherewith-all.

Here are the 5 rules essential for a successful entrepreneur:1) Show up on time. 2) Be nice to people. 3) Do what you say you’ll do. 4) Deliver more than you promise.
5) Work with enthusiasm and passion

“The hardest thing to learn is not ‘how to juggle,’ but how to let the balls drop.”“When I say, ‘Make mistakes, please,’ what I really want is for you to do something risky or challenging, something out of your comfort zone, where mistakes are possible (and likely), and to proceed boldly.”—ANTHONY FROST, Improvisation in Drama and – Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom

Imagine being able to Focus your entire self on the task in front of you.

Imagine being able to Flow in the moment, effortlessly accessing everything you know and tapping the breadth of your talents at will.

Relax. Focus. Flow.

Relaxing is the first step in this powerful chain that connects you with your untapped, unlimited potential for joyous productivity. Don’t miss this one hour donation class that will open the door to Moving through life with effortless ease.

Before you have an urge to do something or embark upon a project, there is a moving of Spirit in you, prompting you in that direction. It arises as desire. The faith necessary to carry out this desire does not come from bucking up or trying to muster the strength. Faith is simply your consent, it is saying “yes” to this out-forming of the creative process. It’s acknowledging and allowing that this is the proper path and to take it regardless of the protests from your inner critic and ego. – adapted from “Spiritual Economics” by Eric Butterworth

Don’t Prepare! “Give up planning. Clear your mind instead of filling it. Don’t spend your energy in preparing for the future. Redirect it to the present moment. Instead of packing, show up empty-handed but alert, cheerful, and ready to receive unexpected gifts. Change the habit of getting ready for life in favor of getting on with it now. We often substitute planning, ruminating, or list-making for actually doing something about our dreams. Substitute attention for preparation. Then you will be working in real time. Focusing attention on the present puts you in touch with a kind of natural wisdom. When you enter the moment with heightened awareness, what you need to do becomes obvious. You discover that you already have the answers. Each of us is full of images, words, solutions, advice, stories. Trust your imagination. Trust your mind.” – … Read More »

“There are people who prefer to say “Yes,” and there are people who prefer to say “No.” Those who say “Yes” are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say “No” are rewarded by the safety they attain. There are far more “No” sayers around than “Yes” sayers, but you can train one type to behave like the other.” – from “Improv Wisdom” Try this, say “yes” to everything today. Accept all invitations, say “yes” to requests from your children, “yes” when people ask for a ride home, “yes” to a beggar asking for money, “yes” to your honey-do list, “yes! yes! And yes!” Put your preferences aside today, it may be uncomfortable, but try it out for the adventure of it. (You may want to avoid going to a car dealership as the only caution)

Get your body to the place that your heart knows it should be. In other words, “just show up”. Pick five places or “hotspots”, places where important things happen in your life. Don’t prepare or wait for the right moment or circumstances, just get yourself to one of them and allow whatever happens to happen. “Just Show Up!” – from “Improv Wisdom” by Patricia Ryan Madson

Reports from the Front:
This is a small sampling from the resistance fighters (that read this blog) overcoming their resistance.

“Headed to my first silent meditation retreat this weekend! I love to talk so I was resistant… But I’m anticipating great things and I know learning to get quiet and listen to my still, small voice will further reduce resistance to things that are truly meant for me!”- Katherine A.

“This simple working meditation has allowed me to slow down and gain vast insight. I’ve had so many aha moments, this week!” – Anna M.

“Resistance 4- baby awoke, and could have woken the rest of the house at 6:45am. I should wake up the wife to take care of him, resistance said, let her do it, you don’t have to. I had just started to put away the dishes – it would … Read More »

This whole idea of resistance came from a book called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. His premise is that we are scared to live up to and face our purpose and potential. He suggests that we’ll do all kinds of things to avoid it even in our career choice. Here’s a quote:

“Sometimes, when we’re terrified of embracing our true calling, we’ll pursue a shadow calling instead. That shadow career is a metaphor for our real career. Its shape is similar, its contours feel tantalizingly the same. But a shadow career entails no real risk. If we fail at a shadow career, the consequences are meaningless to us.”

Life is Expanding. Look at nature and you’ll see that living things continue to grow and expand. Anything not expanding is dying. In that same way we must be expanding the expression of ourselves in the world to really live. Through your creativity, service, influence, personal growth, and learning you expand your essence, and when you offer that back out as an expression of yourself, you are embodying the universal life force. – Albert

So 14 people have officially taken the Resistance Challenge and I’m sure there are a few more of you thinking about it, or secretly trying it (note: that caution is resistance) but I wanted to send out a warning. You don’t have to make up for a decade of procrastination in one day. Don’t wear yourself out. Only do today’s work today, without hurry. The only thing you want to keep in mind is to not avoid the tasks that propel your life forward and fill the time with tasks that are simply distractions. You know what I’m talking about, checking email obsessively, Facebook, researching the topic more, waiting for support, cleaning your entire house instead of making that important call, or starting that project. Just calmly stare down today’s resistance today and everything will start to fall in place … Read More »

Do you ever wonder why you never follow through with all of those great ideas you get at night but then when morning comes, they all go out the window? Resistance is the Enemy. Resistance is anything that you shy away from doing, when deep down you know doing it will lead you in the Right direction. No matter if it comes from procrastination, fear, or any sort of self-doubt, It can all be labeled resistance. Try this exercise, I call it Resistance Therapy: The moment you get the first inkling that you don’t want to do something, even something as simple as taking out the garbage, or dealing with some nuisance of an issue that you’d rather postpone, Do it that very moment. Do this for every single thing you resist for one whole week and see what happens. … Read More »

What’s your most precious resource, money or time? Well neither one actually, it’s your attention. The sum total of what you give your attention to will be what makes up your life experience in the end. Today as an experiment, pay attention to what you’re giving your attention to. This will give you an idea if you’re spending it wisely, or squandering it like a drunken sailor. (I apologize in advance if this offends any drunken sailors) – Albert Pellissier

To live stress-free, find the beauty in everything. In every situation, no matter how unpleasant, in every person, no matter how unattractive physically or personality-wise, and most of all in yourself, no matter what you may perceive as inadequate or undesirable. In the beauty you will find truth, and in truth you will find peace. – adapted from Wayne Dyer’s Power of Intention

“I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.” We are so much more than we think we are, and if we care less about what other people think, and not only care less about their criticism, but care even less about their approval, then we’ll begin to experience it and this experience will unleash us. Once unleashed you will be on your true path, the elusive one you’ve been searching for your whole life. Here you can operate from a place of knowing, and it will feel more fantastic than having the approval of entire the world. – Albert Pellissier

“If someone told you that your natural state is one of radiant happiness and joy, and I’m telling you now, and you don’t feel it at the moment, then what’s going on? It’s not that it’s not there, it’s just being blocked by something. But What? It’s our carefully crafted self image and it’s being meticulously managed by our own ego. The ego is a cocky little thing, a mere drop of water that thinks it’s the ocean. Don’t be mad at it for holding you back, thank it for all it’s years of service protecting you. But now inform it politely but firmly that it’s time to step aside and take a back seat, that you’re in charge and you’ve decided to become your larger authentic self. When it steps out of the way, and you release yourself from … Read More »

“The power to take charge was in my hands, all I had to do was believe it.” – Steven Pressfield from “The War of Art”

Let me pause for this commercial interruption, “take charge of your life today, come to my workshop this morning from 11am -1pm and find out what’s standing in the way of believing and taking control of the steering wheel of your life. Find out how that destructive force of Resistance can be toppled to reveal who you truly are and and enable you to become it. This after all is your only mission in life.

“This is the way human beings are; they love to be told what to do, but they love even more to fight and not do what they are told, and thus they get entangled in hating the one who told them in the first place.” – Carlos Castaneda

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we have chosen to do with our life. We could be sitting in a monastery somewhere in Japan. We could be out sailing or playing golf. But we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good.” – Steve Jobs Published March 17th, 2008 in Fortune Magazine

This may the longest excerpt I’ve ever posted, please forgive me for that, but I thought it was profound. – Albert

Forgiveness of others is essential to mental peace and radiant health. You must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you if you want perfect health and happiness. Forgive your self by getting your thoughts in harmony with divine law and order. You cannot really forgive yourself completely until you have forgiven others first. To refuse to forgive yourself is nothing more or less than spiritual pride or ignorance.

Life is forgiving. Life forgives you when you cut your finger. The subconscious intelligence within you sets about immediately to repair it. New cells build bridges over the cut. Should you take some tainted food by error, Life forgives you and causes you to regurgitate it in order to preserve you. If you burn … Read More »

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” ~ from “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

“The key to experiencing things you desire is to align emotionally with them. When you are in alignment, you feel good, with emotions of contentment, expectation, eagerness, or joy. If you are giving your attention to the lack, or absence of your desire, your emotions will range from pessimism to worry to discouragement to anger to insecurity to depression. Your emotions provide a guidance system, and as you become consciously aware of them, they will be able to alert you if you are on track in allowing yourself to receive anything you desire.” – from “Ask and It Is Given” by Esther & Jerry Hicks

“There are only 3 kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours, and God’s. All of our stress comes from mentally living out of our own business. The next time you’re feeling stress or discomfort, ask yourself who’s business you’re in mentally, and you may burst out laughing! Just noticing that you’re in someone else’s business can bring you back to your own wonderful self.” – from “Loving What Is” by Byron Katie

“I’m sure you’ve been exposed to the idea that to create something in your life you must visualize it first. Worry is the negative application of this same principal. A worrier is vividly picturing in the mind the undesirable condition they are worrying about. To make things worse, feeling is being added to it making it even more powerful. Heed this warning to avoid accidentally using universal laws to get what you don’t want. Don’t worry, Be Happy!” Albert

“Each person is born with a unique individuality, and each person has a destiny of his or her own. Imitation is crime, it is criminal. If you try to become someone else, you may look like him, you may walk like him, you may talk like him, but you will miss. You will miss all that life was ready to deliver to you. Each individual happens only once. It is not in the nature of things to repeat. Existence is so creative that it never repeats anything. You cannot find another human being in the present, in the past, or in the future who is going to resemble you exactly. It has never happened, and never will. The human being is not like a car coming off of an assembly line. Your only task is to be the best you that … Read More »

“When people come to me with a problem, I don’t care what it is—poor health, lack of money, unfulfilling relationships, or stifled creativity, there is only one thing I ever work on, and that is LOVING THE SELF.

I find that as we really love and accept and APPROVE OF OURSELVES EXACTLY AS WE ARE, then everything in life works. It’s as if little miracles are everywhere. Our health improves, we attract more money, our relationships become much more fulfilling, and we begin to express ourselves in creatively fulfilling ways. All this seems to happen without even trying.

I ask my clients to pick up a small mirror, look into their own eyes, and say their names and, ‘I love and accept you exactly as you are.’

This is so difficult for many people. Seldom do I get a calm reaction, let alone … Read More »

“Hurry is a manifestation of fear; he who fears not has plenty of time. If you act with perfect faith in your own perceptions of truth, you will never be too late or too early; and nothing will go wrong. So surely as you find yourself in the mental attitude of haste, just so surely may you know that you are out of the mental attitude of greatness. Hurry and fear will instantly cut your connection with the universal mind.” – Wallace D. Wattles from “The Science of Being Great”

“Self-worth is not a thing; it is a perception. Just as a gymnast begins a routine with ten points and receives deductions for each mistake, so you began life with a natural, complete sense of worth. (Have you ever met an infant with self-worth issues?) But as you grow, you serve as your own judge, deducting points when you misunderstand the nature of living, and learning—when you forget you are a human-in-training and that making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins. It’s important to note that the most sensitive, self-reflective souls among us—those of us with the highest vision, ideals, and standards—often have the lowest sense of self-worth, because we constantly fail to meet our idealized standards. Maybe that’s why George Bernard Shaw once remarked that ‘the ignorant are … Read More »

“There’s an immediate position available for a writer, producer, and director. The only qualification is your own current experience and the pay is whatever you think you deserve. Interested? The job is yours for the asking and the project has already been green lighted. It’s the movie of “Your Life”. Can’t write you say? That’s not true. You see, with every thought you think and tell yourself you are already writing the script. It takes a while in production before you can see the evidence, but please know there is a lot going on behind the scenes to make this film happen. Every day you are directing the lead actor, which is yourself, trying to inspire and extract the performance you want and dreamed of. It’s not always easy working with actors is it? They can be so uncooperative and … Read More »

The seed of all purposeful advancement is Imagination. It’s exponentially more powerful than your will. Every success book or program asks you to get a “Vision” first. However many times not only do we not have a vision, we don’t even know what it is that we want, so how can you go forward? Most people at least know of something in their lives that they want to make better or have more of. Try this technique, it’s called “Imagine it In”. Take an issue that you want to work on and say, “I remember when (fill in the blank), before it was (the way you imagine it could be). Paint the imagined picture as detailed as you can. You will Feel the difference in your mind after saying it. I don’t normally send attachments because this is quick-wisdom after … Read More »

“Put every negative thought out of your mind once and for all. The man who can control his thought can have and do what he wishes to have and to do; everything is his for the asking. Declare your freedom. Know that no matter what others may say, think or do, you are a success, now, and nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good. All the power of the Universe is with you; feel it, know it, and then act as though it were true. This mental attitude alone will draw people and things to you. Begin to blot out, one by one, all false beliefs, all ideas that man is limited or poor or miserable. Use that wonderful power of choice that God has given you. Refuse to think of failure or to doubt your own power. See … Read More »

“From infancy on, the majority of us have been given many negative suggestions. Not knowing how to thwart them, we unconsciously accepted them. Here are some of the negative suggestions: “You can’t.” “You’ll never amount to anything.” “You mustn’t.” “You’ll fail.” “You haven’t got a chance.” “You’re all wrong.” “It’s no use.” “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” “The world is going to the dogs.” “What’s the use, nobody cares.” “It’s no use trying so hard.” “You’re too old now.” “Things are getting worse and worse.” “Life is an endless grind.” “Love is for the birds.” “You just can’t win.” “Pretty soon you’ll be bankrupt.” “Watch out, you’ll get the virus.” “You can’t trust a soul,” etc. Unless, as an adult, you use constructive autosuggestion, which is a reconditioning therapy, the impressions made on you in the … Read More »

“The difference between an inadequate apartment and a mansion on the hill is the same as the difference between average effort in the spring and massive effort in the spring. Nature always promises that a cup produces a bushel… that we will receive more than we plant. Knowing this, as all of us do, we forget that to reap many bushels, which is the measure of success, we still must plant many cups. Massive action in the spring of life still is the requirement for massive success in the fall.” – Jim Rohn

“You are building your mental home all the time, and your thought and mental imagery represent your blueprint. Hour by hour, moment by moment, you can build radiant health, success, and happiness by the thoughts you think, the ideas which you harbor, the beliefs that you accept, and the scenes that you rehearse in the hidden studio of your mind. This stately mansion, upon the construction of which you are perpetually engaged, is your personality, your identity in this plane, your whole life story on this earth.” – Joseph Murphy from “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”

“Even in the midst of the necessary hard work or restraint, you can access joy. When we do what must be done with a full heart, that full-heartedness leads to results we can love. The surest sign that you’re working with the life-affirming kind of discipline, rather than the spirit-depressing kind, is that you don’t complain very much about doing what it takes.” – Danielle Laporte

“Our species in general has grown accustomed to pain and adversity through Millennia of struggle… We are only recently evolving the ability to let ourselves feel good and have things go well for any significant period of time.”

“Because it feels vulnerable to feel good, we start to fear that it won’t last and it can also be threatening to the people around us who’d prefer miserable company.” But go ahead and unfetter your happiness, quit muffling it, and experience the power of your joy. – adapted from “The Desire Map” by Danielle Laporte (first quote is attributed to Gay Hendricks – “The Big Leap”)

“You want it. Aspiring. Hoping. Reaching. So you make a plan to get it. The bucket list. To-do lists. Objectives. Goals. Except that, you’re not chasing the goal, you’re chasing a feeling you hope reaching the goal will give you. We have the procedure upside down and it’s burning us out. What if we get clear first on how we want to feel, then set our intentions?” – Danielle Laporte from “The Desire Map”

“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not achieved by avoiding danger (which is impossible), but by calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.” – Machiavelli

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” – from “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

“Other people’s comments and opinions only hurt when they resonate with our own self-doubt. It’s not what they actually say that hurts, it’s the pain of knowing that you haven’t overcome this same opinion inside yourself yet.” – Albert Pellissier

“Pure hell forces action, but anything less can be endured with enough clever rationalization, distraction, and acts of self-sedation. If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.” adapted from “The 4-hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss and “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

“Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace, or to preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.”

“We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” – from the “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

Remember the movie Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin? The film and its sequels have long since decamped to cable, but Tom Laughlin is still very much around. In addition to his movie work, he’s a lecturer and author and a Jungian-schooled psychologist whose specialty is working with people who have been diagnosed with cancer. Tom Laughlin teaches and leads workshops; here’s a paraphrase of something I heard him say:

The moment a person learns he’s got terminal cancer, a profound shift takes place in his psyche. At one stroke in the doctor’s office he becomes aware of what really matters to him. Things that sixty seconds earlier had seemed all-important suddenly appear meaningless, while people and concerns that he had till then dismissed at once take on supreme importance.

Maybe, he realizes, working this weekend on that big deal at the office … Read More »

Terminally ill cancer patients report dramatic shifts in life perspective and experience a richer mode of existence. They become able to trivialize the trivial, to assume a sense of control, to stop doing things they do not wish to do, to communicate more openly with families and close friends, and to live entirely in the present. This new focus gives a fuller appreciation of life’s elemental factors, changing seasons, falling leaves, the loving of others. The common refrain is, “Why did we have to wait until now, till we are riddled with cancer, to learn how to value and appreciate life?” – from “Happier” by Tal Ben-Shahar

“All frustration is due to unfulfilled desires. If you dwell on obstacles, delays, and difficulties, your subconscious mind responds accordingly, and you are blocking your own good.” from “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” – Dr. Seuss

The achievement of most goals leaves us with a fleeting moment of satisfaction as you look immediately ahead to the next one. To extract more happiness from your goals they must be self-concordant, and enable you to enjoy the process of striving toward them more than the attainment. Happiness research advises pursuing goals involving growth, connection, and contribution rather than goals involving money, beauty, and popularity. Find goals that are interesting and personally important rather than goals you feel forced and pressured to pursue. This will maximize your potential for Happiness. – from Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar

If you ask yourself, “why do I want what I want?”, then to the answer, ask again, “well why do I want that?”, and keep answering in an infinitely regressive series of why’s, the final answer will always be, “because it makes me happy”. At this point there is no more “why” because Happiness is the highest goal, the end toward which all other ends lead. Given that, wouldn’t it be wise to simply spend more time doing the things that make you happy? Making happiness your most valuable currency and determinant of your priorities. – adapted from “Happier” by Tal Ben-Shahar

“In the morning when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present, – I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm? Do you exist to take pleasure and not at all for action and exertion? Do you not see the little plants , the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And are you unwilling to do the work of a human being, and to do that which is according to your nature? Nature has fixed bounds for eating and drinking, yet you … Read More »

We all have a primary question we ask ourselves whenever we’re under stress, and it’s not a nice one. Can you think of a question that has gone through your brain for most of your adult life at the first sign of a little stress? To change your life, change this question. – Tony Robbins

“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.” – Viktor Frankl … Read More »

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” Viktor Frankl – from “Man’s Search for Meaning”

“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he … Read More »

“Acknowledge that any time spent regretting or living in the past, as well as worrying or fretting about the future, is nothing more than an avoidance technique to absolve yourself from the responsibility of living in or taking action in the present.” – Albert

Vernon Howard says this in his classic The Power of Your Supermind: “Encourage yourself by remembering that any detection of negativity within you is a positive act, not a negative one. Awareness of your weakness and confusion makes you strong because conscious awareness is the bright light that destroys the darkness of negativity. Honest self-observation dissolves pains and pressures that formerly did their dreadful work in the darkness of unawareness. This is so important that I urge you to memorize and reflect upon the following summary: Detection of inner negativity is not a negative act, but a courageously positive act that makes you a new person.”

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.”
~ Lao Tzu

“to want what you get rather than trying to get what you want, because that seems like a never-ending battle, and a losing battle at that. We seem to always get what we need, though. So when we want what we get, it’s really like wanting what we need.” – from “Big Mind, Big Heart” by Dennis Genpo Merzel

“Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.” from “Flow” by MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI

Never think of spirituality as growth. The treasure has always been there, you have just buried it under with knowledge. This is why children are blissful, they are perfect just as they are from the beginning and they know not otherwise. From the moment we are born society starts to poison us with comparison. Somebody is more beautiful than you, somebody else is healthier than you, look, look at his grades, they are better than yours. Comparison brings with it the idea of inferiority and superiority, both are illnesses. Now the person will remain miserable in comparison, and the bliss of being will become more and more impossible. The first condition of happiness is to drop all comparison to others. You are simply yourself, there exists no one like you with whom you can be compared. Realize this and suddenly … Read More »

Whatever your heart desires is the seed of proof that you can manifest it in your life. God does not give you desire in order to torture you with it. The only thing that stands in your way is that devilish little voice of doubt and your mistaken calculation of what you think you deserve. – Albert

Think about money the same way you think about breathing. You don’t worry about your next breath, you just breathe in and out, you let it flow, there’s always enough. You can’t hoard the air, try to hang on to it, or hold your breath and not let any out. Money is simply life energy, let it circulate, let it flow, you’ve always managed to have enough, just relax and take a deep breath. When you finally take your very last breath, you’ll no longer have a need for money either. – Albert

“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson from “A Return to Love”

“The important thing is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.” – Charles Dubois

“The only thing that stops us from being our whole, authentic selves is fear. Our fear tells us that we can’t fulfill our dreams. Our fear tells us not to take risks. It stops us from enjoying our … Read More »

“People who make permanent and universal explanations for their troubles tend to collapse under pressure, both for a long time and across situations.

Learned helplessness is the giving up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter. Explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why events happen. It is the great modulator of learned helplessness. An optimistic explanatory style stops helplessness, whereas a pessimistic explanatory style spreads helplessness.” – Martin Seligman from Learned Optimism

Seligman and his colleagues conducted an experiment using dogs.

Imagine two dogs: The first dog is slightly shocked but has a lever he can push that will stop the shocks. He quickly learns to stop the shocks. He’s in good “psychological” shape. A second dog does not have a lever. He can’t stop the shocks. Rather, the shocks … Read More »

“Children are domesticated the same way that we domesticate a dog, a cat, or any other animal. In order to teach a dog we punish the dog and we give it rewards. We train our children whom we love so much the same way that we train any domesticated animal: with a system of punishment and reward. We are told, ‘You’re a good boy,’ or ‘You’re a good girl,’ when we do what Mom and Dad want us to do. When we don’t, we are a ‘bad girl’ or a ‘bad boy.’” – The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

This was disturbingly evident to me last night as I attended my daughter’s High School open house. It saddens me to witness this rigorous obstacle course set up for these kids in the name of education. It’s all about pushing them with … Read More »

Building on last Friday’s message, (if you missed it, please go back and read it) I can’t emphasize enough that “living in the present moment” will lead to peace and joy and getting into the natural “flow” of life. If only it were easy. It’s not. In fact it’s tough. If you’ve ever tried practicing mindfulness, or meditation, yoga, tai chi, or some form of martial arts, you know what I mean. It’s hard to keep the mind from drifting and distraction even longer than a few seconds. This is because our minds are undisciplined, and these practices above are designed to give you mental strength and the ability to bring yourself to the present.

Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now says, “Many people live with a tormentor in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them and drains them … Read More »

If you’d like to know how it is that you can be very outwardly successful as far as society is concerned, yet still feel miserable on the inside, here’s some insight. The nature of your mind (the ego part) is that it always functions as a “wanting” mechanism. It will always want some feeling that is better than the one you are feeling at this moment. This will be true even if you become a jet-set millionaire, your mind will still convince you that being a jet-set billionaire will be even better. Along the way, you continue to convince yourself that when you achieve this or that, then you will feel satisfied. However the nature of your “wanting mind” will never allow this to be so, never. After 20 years or so of achieving, every person eventually comes to a … Read More »

Would you rather keep your hopes and dreams alive by not daring to pursue them, or pursue them only to find you just don’t have what it takes? It’s FEAR of the latter that keeps most dreams unrealized. We can nurse ourselves through long periods of our life, clinging to fantasies of what could be if only… However, think of the enormous waste of both time and life energy that could be put to better use if you would just go ahead and find out one way or the other. If you are capable, then you’ll realize your dreams. If you aren’t capable then it wasn’t meant to be, you’ll learn, adjust, and conjure a new dream more in line with your true gifts and destiny. Muster the courage to give it a real shot, face it, and find out … Read More »

I attended a workshop yesterday and listened to a handful of speakers. I noticed a thread in every story in which each person reached some point in their life where they had achieved all of the status symbols and outward appearances of success. In each case it was at this point in their lives when they acknowledged how miserable they were which led to a total reexamination of themselves and the path they were on. Motivated by finally having enough, each person changed course, sometimes dramatically, and pursued a new personally chosen, more fulfilling path, driven by internal values instead of society’s values. If you are still sleepwalking on a path to impress others, or the one you bought into unwittingly under the influence of culture, this is where you are heading. If you are one of the lucky ones … Read More »

“Happiness is a universal phenomenon, there is nothing special about it. Trees are happy and animals are happy and birds are happy. The whole of existence is happy, except man. Being miserable, man becomes very special, extraordinary.

Misery makes you capable of attracting people’s attention. Whenever you are miserable you are attended to, sympathized with, loved. Everybody starts taking care of you. Who wants to hurt a miserable person? Who is jealous of a miserable person? Who wants to be antagonistic to a miserable person? That would be too mean.

The miserable person is cared for, loved, attended to. There is great investment in misery. If the wife is not miserable, the husband simply tends to forget her. If she is miserable the husband cannot afford to neglect her. If the husband is miserable, the whole family, the wife, the children, are … Read More »

The root of my unhappiness lies in my competitiveness and desire to be number one at something and have it recognized by outsiders. The root of my frustration lies in never finding this thing that my natural talents were so perfectly suited for that I could easily be number one without effort. The root of my delusion lies in believing that my passion for this thing would ignite my motivation and overcome my laziness. The root of my happiness lies in the fact that none of it was ever necessary. – Albert from a meditation on Unhappiness

“A real education will not teach you to be the first. It will tell you to enjoy whatever you are doing, not for the result, but for the act itself. Just like a painter or a dancer or a musician…

“The expectations and distractions of our Culture may have seduced you onto a slave ship that you boarded at some point in your life, and now you’re rowing along with everyone else not realizing that there are no iron shackles, only mental ones, and at any time you are free to stand up and walk out without punishment, and take your own one-person kayak, that’s been right there waiting for you all along, and take it in any direction you choose.” – Albert Pellissier from a Meditation on Compassion.

“Do things with your whole heart, with as much intensity as you are capable of. It is not a question of which part you follow, your spiritual side or your materialistic side, it is a question of whether you go totally into it or not. To be total in your action brings joy. Even an ordinary, trivial action done with total intensity brings a glow to your being, a fulfillment, a fullness, a deep contentment. And anything done halfheartedly, however good the thing may be, is going to bring misery.” from “The Book of Understanding” by Osho

“Can you and I, who are simple, ordinary people, live creatively in this world without the drive of ambition which shows itself in various ways as the desire for power, position? You will find the right answer when you love what you are doing. If you are an engineer merely because you must earn a livelihood, or because your father or society expects it of you, that is another form of compulsion; and compulsion in any form creates a contradiction, a conflict. Whereas, if you really love to be an engineer, or a scientist, or if you can plant a tree, or paint a picture, or write a poem, not to gain recognition but just because you love to do it, then you will find that you never need to compete with another. I think this is the real key: to … Read More »

Let’s say you’re ready for change. You’re ready to implement new productive habits. Instead of reinventing yourself overnight, pick just one thing that will have the most impact and only focus on this one new habit for a month. Make it even easier than you think you can achieve. If you want to exercise daily, commit to only 10 minutes instead of a half hour or more. If you want to wake up earlier, wake up just 15 minutes earlier, not at sunrise. Do this for an entire month, then choose a new habit to work on next month. This will insure the greatest chance of success without burnout and disappointment. – from “The Power of Less” by Leo Babauta

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. – ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’—Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” – Emerson

“As long as you are afraid of anyone or anything, there can be no happiness. There can be no happiness as long as you are afraid of your parents, your teachers, afraid of not passing examinations, afraid of not making progress, of not getting nearer to the Master, nearer to truth, or of not being approved of, patted on the back.

But if you are really not afraid of anything, then you will find—when you wake up of a morning, or when you are walking alone—that suddenly a strange thing happens: uninvited, unsolicited, unlooked for, that which may be called love, truth, happiness, is suddenly there.”

Take a shortcut and learn from the wisdom of others, much as your life has been enhanced by the inventors of the past; fire, wheel, electricity, human flight, art, science, etc. It’s all been left to us as a gift.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

– Steve Jobs in The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993.

If you run a business of any sort, you should definitely read his biography by Walter Isaacson. It shows that the driving force behind the success of Apple lies in Steve Jobs’ quest and passion to make great products. He’d scrap millions of dollars of work if he thought the product was coming up short of what it could or should be, and start over.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

In order to squeeze all the good out of your life, you also need guts. Guts means having the valor of purpose necessary to pursue the why. The capacity to search steadily for a significance in life represents the highest nobility. The why is finding a meaning for all of the expanded living and also the energy and involvement necessary to make it happen. Nietzsche said “A person that knows the ‘why’ of life can put up with almost any ‘how.’” If you muster the guts, nourished by a sense of meaning, then a long vivid life of active participation beckons. – from “Dare to be 100” by Dr. Walter M. Bortz II

“Never accept the idea that, because you are in business, you don’t have the opportunity or time or personal qualities which a true spiritual life demands, or that maintaining a deep inner life
is somehow contradictory with leading a business career. The wisdom of The Diamond Cutter says that the very people who are attracted to business are exactly the ones who have the inner strength to grasp and carry out the deeper practices of the spirit.” from “The Diamond Cutter” by Geshe Michael Roach

“Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it; men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just: By doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we become brave.” – Aristotle

When the Dalai Lama was a boy in Tibet he used to try to catch mice, not because he wished to kill them, but because he wanted to outsmart them. He says, however, that the mice in Tibet must have been more clever than ordinary mice because he never succeeded in catching one. Instead they became his models of enlightened conduct. He felt that, unlike most of us, they had figured out that the best thing they could do for themselves was to refrain from the short-term pleasure of cheese in order to have the long-term pleasure of living. He encouraged us to follow their example. What cheesy temptations are you nibbling on right before the snap of the trap comes down and suffering begins? – Adapted from the Philosophers Notes of Pema Chodron’s “The Places That Scare You”

“The pain that’s created by avoiding hard work is actually much worse than any pain created from the actual work itself. Because if you don’t begin to work on those ideas that God has blessed you with, they will become stagnant inside of you and eventually begin to eat away at you. You might seem OK on the outside, but inside you will be ill from not getting those ideas out of your heart and into the world. Stalling leads to sickness. But taking steps, even baby steps, always leads to success.” – Russell Simmons

There is 100% Commitment or there is none. 99% Commitment is the same as none. 99% is a bitch and 100% is a cinch. When you are 100% committed, you no longer have to debate yourself whether you’re going to do it or not, you just do it because you’re committed. Eliminating this internal fighting saves tons of energy. If you are unwilling to commit 100% maybe you are just kidding yourself and it’s something you should just quit doing altogether. This will also save tons of energy that can be redirected to something you are willing to commit to. – Albert Pellissier

“One of the best ways to develop adaptability to the stresses of life is to view them as normal. Earl Nightingale tells of his visit with his son recently to the Great Barrier Reef which stretches nearly 1800 miles from New Guinea to Australia. Noticing that the coral polyps on the inside of the reef, where the sea was tranquil and quiet in the lagoon, appeared pale and lifeless… while the coral on the outside of the reef, subject to the surge of the tide and power of the waves, were bright and vibrant with splendid colors and flowing growth… Earl Nightingale asked why this was so. ‘It’s very simple,’ came the reply, ‘the coral on the lagoon-side dies rapidly with no challenge for growth and survival… while the coral facing the surge and power of the open sea, thrives and multiplies … Read More »

There’s only one way to come to understand the other person’s story, and that’s by being curious. Instead of asking yourself, “How can they think that?!” ask yourself, “I wonder what information they have that I don’t?” Instead of asking, “How can they be so irrational?” ask, “How might they see the world such that their view makes sense?” Certainty locks us out of their story; curiosity lets us in.

“Telling someone to change makes it less rather than more likely that they will. This is because people almost never change without first feeling understood.” from Difficult Conversations by Stone, Patton, & Heen

“According to the Cabbalah, our purpose is to move from lower levels of living to higher and higher planes. But we have to fall down first to acquire and generate the necessary energy to propel ourselves to the next level. Thus every single fall you experience is an opportunity that provides the energy needed to turbo boost up to the next spiritual level.” from Wayne Dyer’s book “Your Sacred Self”

“Beasts avoid the dangers which they see, and when they have escaped them are free from care; but we men torment ourselves over that which is to come as well as over that which is past. Many of our blessings bring bane to us; for memory recalls the tortures of fear, while foresight anticipates them. The present alone can make no man wretched.” from “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca A.D. 47

There are actually two kinds of habits: “doing” habits and “not-doing” habits. Everything you are “not doing” right now, you are in the habit of not doing. The only way to change these not-doing habits into doing habits is to do them. Reading will assist you, but it’s a whole different world when you go from reading to doing. If you are truly serious about success, prove it, and do the actions. – T. Harv Eker from “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”

“When you make it a strong habit not to take anything personally, you avoid many upsets in your life. Your anger, jealousy, and envy will disappear, and even your sadness will simply disappear if you don’t take things personally.”

~ Don Miguel Ruiz from “The Four Agreements”

This is an awesome book if you’ve never read it. My Brother gave it to me as a gift after receiving it from his boss as gift, and what a gift. This book relieved me of at least 75% of the burden of dealing with other people in my life. My wife Lisa had the same reaction to it. If you have the time, this is a must read.

If you want to be free you must be able “to be”. You’ve got to learn how to give all aspects of who you are a permission to exist. This means we must stop judging ourselves. We must forgive ourselves for being human. We must forgive ourselves for being imperfect. Because when we judge ourselves, we automatically judge others. And what we do to others, we also do to ourselves. The world is a mirror of our internal selves. When we can accept ourselves, and forgive ourselves, we automatically accept and forgive others. Make peace with the sometimes contradictory aspects of your self. – from “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers” by Debbie Ford

The biggest problem with email is that the emotional context is missing. When we talk face-to-face, we are unconsciously communicating our feelings non-verbally with facial expressions, tone of voice, postures, and gestures. When reading an email our brain just makes stuff up to fabricate the missing emotional information. Worse still the fabricated information usually has a strong negative bias for we assume people to have more negative intentions than they do, and to cap it off we automatically believe these fabrications to be true, and react accordingly which may not be wise. – adapted from “Search Inside Yourself” by Chade-Meng Tan (the Google book on Meditation)

“Within ourselves, we possess every trait and its polar opposite, every human emotion and impulse. We have to uncover, own and embrace all of who we are, the good and bad, dark
and light, strong and weak, and honest and dishonest. If you believe you are weak, then you must seek out its opposite, and find your strength. If you are ruled by fear, you must go within and find your courage. If you are a victim you must find the victimizer within you. It is your birthright to be whole: to have it all. It only takes a shift in your perception, an opening of your heart. When you can say, ‘I am that’ to the deepest, darkest aspect of yourself, then you can reach true enlightenment. It’s not until we fully embrace the dark that we can embrace the light. … Read More »

When someone says something to us, it has an impact. If we feel hurt by what they said, we assume that the hurtful impact was their intention. However when we say something to others, we always judge ourselves by our intention and not by the impact it may have on them. Keep this in mind when communicating with others and you’ll save yourself from the many feelings of being hurt or slighted, when that may never have been the other person’s intention at all. – from “Search Inside Yourself” by Chade-Meng-Tan

Imagine that you are going to die in one minute. The last thing you are going to experience is reading this, sitting in this room, wearing the clothes you are wearing, thinking and feeling what you are thinking and feeling right now. This is it. This is the end of your life. You have no time to do anything about it. You have no time to write a note or make a phone call. Your life is over. You will die in one minute. All you can do is experience what is, right now.

In doing this exercise, you stop fighting, stop wanting, stop achieving. You stop hoping for a better life. Getting anywhere becomes meaningless. What remains is that state of awareness within you … Read More »

Meditation is the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction. Meditation may be thought of as a technique by which we diminish the force of old thought habits and develop new ones. We thereby protect ourselves from engaging in actions or mind, word or deed that lead to our suffering. – The Dalai Lama

If you’ve ever been intrigued by the idea of mediation, I would encourage you to try it daily for a couple of months and see what happens. This is one habit that can truly result in a personal transformation with what is seemingly a simple exercise. More on Meditation

The most important benefit of patience consists in the way it acts as a powerful antidote to the affliction of anger — the greatest threat to our inner peace, and therefore our happiness. Indeed, we find that patience is the best means we have of defending ourselves internally from anger’s destructive effects. – The Dalai Lama from “His Essential Wisdom”

“Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Man can either buy his wisdom or borrow it. By buying it, he pays full price in personal time and treasure. But by borrowing it, he capitalizes on the lessons learned from the failures of others.’”

ps This is why I send out these quotes, I’m hoping that your life will be enhanced by the wisdom of others.

“To simplify your life, zero-based thinking is one of the most powerful strategies you can learn and apply on a regular basis. Here’s how it works. Ask yourself, ‘Is there anything I am doing right now that, knowing what I now know, I wouldn’t get into again if I were starting over today?’”

“If your answer is ‘yes,’ then your next question is, ‘How do I get out of this situation, and how fast?’” from Focal Point by Brian Tracy

“The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.”

“The first step in changing reality is to recognize it as it is now. There is no need to wish it were otherwise. It simply is. Pleasant or not, it is. Then comes the behavior that acts on the present reality. Behavior can change what is. We may have visions of what will be. We cannot (and need not) prevent these dreams. But the visions won’t change the future. Action—in the present— changes the future. A trip of ten thousand miles starts out with one step, not with a fantasy about travel.” – David K. Reynolds from Constructive Living

“The most peaceful people I know have given themselves away… On the other hand, the most miserable people I have known have been self-focused. They worry about getting their share; they evaluate everyone’s acts in terms of how they themselves are affected.” by David K. Reynolds from Constructive Living

Ok, so today I celebrate a half-century of my human experience and I’m grateful for my parents’ bad decisions that led to the occasion. I’ll share the most important thing I’ve learned in 50 years with the only regret being that I learned it too recently. Whether we are aware of it or not, we assign the meaning to all things that happen to us in our lives. With that power, everything is painted just the way we want it to be. Good or bad, we are getting exactly what we want or need in every moment regardless of the blame we put on our external circumstances. – Albert Pellissier

“The mature human being goes about doing what needs to be done regardless of whether that person feels great or terrible. Knowing that you are the kind of person with that kind of self- control brings all the satisfaction and confidence you will ever need. Even on days when the satisfaction and confidence just aren’t there, you can get the job done anyway.” – from Constructive Living by David K. Reynolds

“I do not believe that you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths.”

“The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power, or goodness. A life that does this is pregnant with meaning, and if God comes at the end, such a life is sacred.”

~ Martin Seligman from Authentic Happiness

Take the Brief Strengths Test or Survey of Character Strengths Here

Strengths Test

ps You will have to register on the site first but there is no charge or fee to take the tests

In his great book, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, Nathaniel Branden talks about the importance of Self-Acceptance. He tells us: “As a psychotherapist I see nothing does as much for an individual’s self-esteem as becoming aware of and accepting disowned parts of the self. The first steps of healing and growth are awareness and acceptance—consciousness and integration.”

“Whether you like it or not, if you’re human, you have a shadow. If you can’t see it, just ask the people in your family, or the people you work with. They’ll point it out to you. We think our masks keep our inner selves hidden, but whatever we refuse to recognize about ourselves has a way of rearing its head and making itself known when we least expect it.”
~ Debbie Ford

One day, twin boys went off with their grandfather on an outing. They walked through the woods until they came upon an old barn. When the boys and their grandfather stepped inside to explore, one of the boys immediately started complaining: ‘Grampa, let’s get out of here. The old barn stinks like horse manure.’ The boy stood near the door, angry because he now had manure on his new shoes. Before the old man could respond he saw his other grandson running happily through the barn’s many stalls. ‘What are you looking for?’ he asked the second little boy. ‘Why are you so happy?’ The boy looked up and said, ‘With all that horse manure in here there must be a pony somewhere.’” The Moral: always search and find the gift in your pain.

“Difficult and unpleasant as it may be to accept, we often feel most hostile to those who remind us of aspects of ourselves that we prefer not to see. ‘Ask someone to give a description of the personality type which he finds most despicable, most unbearable and hateful, and most impossible to get along with,’ writes Edward Whitmont, ‘and he will produce a description of his own repressed characteristics… These very qualities are so unacceptable to him precisely because they represent his own repressed side; only that which we cannot accept within ourselves do we find impossible to live with in others.’ Think for a moment of someone you actively dislike. What quality in that person do you find most objectionable? Now ask yourself, ‘How am I that?’” from “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

“Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there? Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there,’ or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. The enlightened person’s main focus of attention is always the Now” from “The Power of Now” by ~ Eckhart Tolle

Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.” – Eckhart Tolle from “The Power of Now”

“Whatever the hell happens, say, ‘This is what I need.’” – Joseph Campbell

Everyone at times feels resentment and envy, but these feelings will keep you from getting what you want. This is Huna wisdom passed down from Hawaiian elders: Bless that which you want. If you see a person with a beautiful home, bless that person and that home. If you see a person with a beautiful car, bless that person and the car. If you see a person with a loving family, bless that person and that family. In this way you will turn envy into admiration and the things you admire will become yours.

The Law of Giving: practicing the law of giving is simple, if you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation to others; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent. The easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. From “the 7 spiritual laws of success” by Deepak Chopra

“If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing which disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now. But if anything in thy own disposition gives thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion?” — PHILOSOPHY OF THE AGES

“We cannot solve life’s problems except by solving them. We cannot solve a problem by saying ‘it’s not my problem’. We cannot solve a problem by hoping someone else will solve it. I can only solve a problem when I say “This is my problem and its up to me to solve it!.” – Dr. Scott Peck from “The Road Less Traveled” (one of my favorite books of all time)

We avoid trying new things and experiences many times out of a fear of failure. Very often it is really a fear of someone else’s disapproval or ridicule. Remind yourself to let people have their own opinions, which have nothing to do with you, and begin to evaluate your desires and behavior on your own terms. You’ll come to see your abilities not as better or worse, but as simply different from others. – Albert Pellissier

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.” Dorothea Brande from Wake Up and Live

Fully functioning people never complain. Acceptance means no complaining, and happiness means no complaining about things over which you can do nothing. Complaining is the refuge of those who have no self-reliance. Just as complaining to others accomplishes nothing, so permitting others to abuse you with their self-pity and misery helps no one. Asking “why are you telling me this?” of others will generally end this useless behavior and help you to recognize the folly of complaining yourself. – Wayne Dyer

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.” -Albert Einstein

Here is some advice on taking advice, and whether it will harm or help you. Before you listen to any advice, ask yourself: “does this person already have what I want or have they accomplished what I want?” if not, then don’t listen to them no matter how much you think they know what they’re talking about. Move on quickly and forget everything they said.

DO not trouble about results, or be anxious as to the future; but be troubled about personal shortcomings, and be anxious to remove them; for know this simple truth–wrong does not result from right, and a good present cannot give birth to a bad future. You are the custodian of your deeds, but not of the results which flow from them. The deeds of to-day bring the happiness or sorrow of to-morrow. Be therefore concerned about what you think and do, rather than about what may or may not come to you; for he whose deeds are good does not concern himself about results, and is freed from fear of future ill. – James Allen